Jerry Jones Tried to Trade Micah Parsons for Quinnen Williams and the Jets Said No
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently revealed that he offered Micah Parsons plus a first-round pick to the Jets in exchange for Quinnen Williams during training camp.
“I wanted a one and Parsons for Williams,”
“A one and Parsons for Williams,” he repeated. Later, he added that the deal did not go through because the Jets “did not have the cap room to pay [Parsons].”
Jones also said something similar to WFAA’s Ed Werder: “We tried at training camp with the Jets to basically make an exchange that was ready to go, heads up, with Quinnen and Micah and a 1, and we didn’t get it done.”
Parsons, of course, was instead sent to the Packers for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks. The Cowboys later acquired Williams before the trade deadline for a package including a 2027 first-rounder, a 2026 second-rounder, and defensive tackle
Jones has slowly revealed more and more information about the Parsons trade since it was completed. During a September radio appearances on ESPN New York, Jones said that called the Jets regarding Williams when he was shopping Parsons before the season. The Jets were not interested, he claimed, because they “didn’t have the resources to entertain [the] conversation,” similar to his pronouncement on 103.5.
If Jones’ latest revelation is true, that means two things. First, he was willing to sacrifice a massive amount of value to move Parsons and acquire Williams. Second, the Jets made a huge mistake in not accepting the deal.
Though Williams is an excellent defensive tackle, Parsons is undoubtedly a better and more valuable player, even at a higher price point. This year, Williams has 2.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss this season; per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), he ranks fifth among interior defenders with 40 pressures but 38th with a 12.1% pass rush win rate.
Parsons, meanwhile, has 12.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss, plus 67 pressures and a 24.3% pass rush win rate, both top-three marks among NFL edge rushers. In his career, he has averaged 0.89 sacks and one tackle for loss per game; Williams’ per-game numbers are 0.41 sacks and 0.60 tackles for loss.
Those numbers may not tell the complete story of either player, but it seems like the Jets should have taken Jones’ offer. Sure, they would have had to pony up for Parsons’ mega-extension, but they were already prepared to move on from Williams. Adding an extra first-round pick on top would also give the Jets an opportunity to add another starter – if not a star – on a rookie contract. That would help to offset the financial cost of acquiring Parsons.
But Jones’ words should also be taken with a grain of salt. He has spent a lot of time trying to retroactively justify trading away Parsons, especially after using some of the resulting draft capital to acquire Williams. Claiming that the Jets were not interested in Parsons and a first-rounder for Williams serves to downplay the former’s value and boost the latter’s.
The idea that the Jets could not afford to pay Parsons does not hold water, either. After his extension, the All-Pro edge rusher’s cap hit in 2025 is just $9.97MM. New York certainly could have designed a similar contract structure and absorbed
Perhaps the Jets did want to commit so much money to Parsons as they were clearly contemplating a rebuild. Parsons would still be a cornerstone for that effort, but he may not have wanted to weather any losing seasons in the hopes of a future turnaround. But again, adding another first-round pick would have accelerated that process, and a core of Parsons, cornerback
Instead, the Jets declined the Cowboys’ initial offer for Williams before moving him and Gardner at the deadline as part of what appears to be a full-on franchise reset.
Packers’ Micah Parsons Gets More Incoming Flak From Cowboys
The price the Packers paid for star pass-rusher Micah Parsons was, no doubt, high. The team sent out two first-round picks plus Kenny Clark to get their hands on the ex-Cowboys star, and with 12.5 sacks for the 8-3-1 Packers, folks in Green Bay regret nothing about the swap.
In Dallas, though, as the Cowboys have been surging with three straight wins–including beating the Eagles and Chiefs–the spin on Parsons continues. Team owner Jerry Jones, who mishandled the negotiations on a new contract for Parsons before ultimately trading him to Green Bay, said on Friday that he nearly sent Parsons to the Jets before the season and that, really, he didn’t think his star pass-rusher was all that good.
According to Jones, the Cowboys had talked about sending Parsons to the Jets for Quinnen Williams, who was dealt to Dallas at this year’s trade deadline. The offer–and this is something the Jets will surely refute–was Parsons and a first-round pick for Williams.
Micah Parsons Came Up Short With Cowboys
Jones said something that the Packers will surely test in the immediate and in the long-term in Green Bay: That Parsons did not have a big enough impact on winning and losing.
“Micah is very impactful, but we really hadn’t won with Micah,” Jones said Friday. “Not because of Micah. We just hadn’t won because (the opponent) was able to work around us having Micah. They ran right at him or they basically threw the ball quicker. Those are simplistic things.
Indeed, Parsons is one of the best pass-rushers in the NFL, only rating below Browns star Myles Garrett (who is on another planet) in the Pro Football Focus grading system, where Parsons rates a 93.2 and Garrett rates a 93.5. But Parsons is a mediocre run-stopper, ranked No. 38 among pass-rushers with a 66.3 rating.
The Packers as a whole have only a mediocre run defense, ranked No. 16 in the NFL.
Packers Seeing Parsons Get Double-Teamed
Parsons has had an issue with being double-teamed this season, and for the Packers, the key is to take advantage of that. Green Bay has an advantage Dallas did not have–the overall defensive talent is better. And Parsons has been effective in taking advantage when he is single-teamed by offensive linemen.
“It should be a loss for them,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “I think if you ask Micah, if they block him one-on-one, his answer is going to be that I should win. And our expectation is, if they block him one-on-one, he’s going to win, too.
“Now he’s not going to win all of them. Let’s understand that. You’re not going to win everyone. But there were a few he won so fast where, I don’t care who was playing quarterback for them, the guy had no chance. So, I hope teams continue to try to block him one-on-one. But there were sometimes in that [Minnesota] game, where there were three guys on him.”
