Jerry Jones Breaks Silence on Micah Parsons’ Lying During the Game, David Mulugheta, Trading With Packers & More

The Herschel Walker trade was a masterstroke of asset management that turned a single star into a constellation of them, fueling three Super Bowl parades for the Cowboys. For over three decades, it lived in Jerry’s lore, an untouchable relic until today, when they traded the defensive face of their franchise, Micah Parsons, to the Green Bay Packers, a move that shook the NFL to its core.

The return: Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two future first-round picks for 2026 and 2027. The Packers, in a stunning departure from their typical team-building model, subsequently signed Parsons to a historic four-year, $188 million contract with $136 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at $47 million annually.“Make no mistake about it,” Jones stated, leaving no room for ambiguity. “We all know we could’ve signed Micah. But we decided to go with the trade.”

The rationale, repeated like a mantra, was a direct indictment of the Cowboys’ most glaring flaw. “The facts are specifically we need to stop the run. We haven’t been able to stop the run at key times for several years,” Jones explained. The advanced stats back him up. Despite Parsons’ gaudy individual numbers—52.5 sacks over his first 63 games, making him one of only two players (alongside Reggie White) to record 12+ sacks in each of his first four seasons.

Jerry Jones says the #Cowboys got better in the long run and this year with the Micah Parsons-Kenny Clark trade: “We gained a Pro Bowl player in an area we had big concerns in on the inside of our defense.”

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 28, 2025

Jones, with Stephen at his side, believes they have gotten better both for the present and the long run. “We gained a Pro Bowl player in an area we had big concerns in on the inside of our defense,” he said, emphasizing the acquisition of the 29-year-old Clark, who himself is a three-time Pro Bowler with 35.0 career sacks and 417 tackles from the defensive tackle position. The draft capital acquired is a potential game-changer. “They could get us as few as three or as many as five outstanding players.”

The timeline is critical to understanding the fracture:

Before the 2024 Season: According to Parsons, his agent, David Mulugheta of Athletes First, first reached out to the Cowboys about an extension. The team declined to engage at that time.

After the 2024 Season: Micah Parsons told Mulugheta to reach out to the Cowboys again. However, the agent suggested they should wait until other defensive stars signed new contracts, so that they could increase the demand.

March 2025: Parsons met with Jerry Jones to, as he said, “talk about leadership.” During that meeting, Parsons claims Jones initiated contract talks. Parsons outlined his terms but considered it an informal conversation, directing Jones to formalize talks with Mulugheta. The Cowboys did not follow up.

June 2025: With stars like Myles Garrett, Maxx Crosby, and finally T.J. Watt (3 years, $123M) resetting the defensive market, Parsons’s price tag soared. He publicly stated, “It’s in the owner’s hands.”

Late July 2025: Parsons reported to camp but sat out practices with a back injury. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported negotiations had gone “backwards, not forward.”

Early August 2025: Parsons posted a “one last time” GIF on social media and formally requested a trade. Teammates like CeeDee Lamb voiced support, tweeting “just pay the man.”

August 22, 2025: Jerry Jones went on the offensive, appearing on the “Stephen A. Smith Show” to declare,“Any talk of trading is BS.”

August 28, 2025: The Cowboys traded Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers.

The protracted negotiation struggle with Parsons, which culminated in a formal trade request, formed the messy backdrop. Jones addressed the elephant in the room: his direct dealings with Parsons that seemingly bypassed the player’s powerful agent, David Mulugheta.

When pressed on whether his public comments might curb future negotiations with Mulugheta’s extensive client roster, Jones brushed it aside. “He’s not that fragile. Let me tell you something, you can’t do that stuff and business like this and be fragile. I’m not. … I would think with his background, he’s very professional and willing to keep his eye on the ball and not get caught up in the emotions.”

From Parsons’ bench moment to a franchise-altering goodbye

Jones defended his hands-on history, “I don’t think there’s any question. Once you are together, I’ve had hundreds of times and instances where literally hundreds over the last 35 years where the kinds of relationships I have with a player and the things we do, and that goes both ways… that’s a natural thing to happen when you work together during times that bond you.”

Stephen Jones quickly added a layer of corporate clarity: “We do have players that come in, and we totally respect it, that say, ‘I don’t feel comfortable talking about my contract. I’d like you to go through my agent.’ And we do that respectfully.”

Stephen also elaborated on the new defensive philosophy under head coach Brian Schottenheimer and defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, drawing a critical distinction: “The other thing that came into play big between coach Schottenheimer and coach Eberflus and talking about the defense and obviously getting a player like Kenny Clark; is we also feel in addition to the depth, is you can scheme pressure as well. I think coach Eberflus has been really good at that in terms of using scheme to get pressure on the quarterback. But what’s tough to scheme is to stop the run.”

Jones was asked about the viral image of a disengaged Parsons lying flat on his back on the bench during the preseason matchup against the Falcons. “I didn’t see it. I saw pictures of that,” Jones admitted, “Those aren’t ways that you handle being a player in a team concept and the sharpness and paying attention.”

In classic Jones fashion, he drove the point home with a folksy parable. “Ask Booker and you can get your butt run over down there if you don’t look at what’s going on out on the field. Lost Booker because of it.” The reference is to CeeDee Lamb’s infamous sideline collision with an official in the first preseason match-up against the Rams.

Despite the apparent friction, Jones framed the departure not as punishment but as a painful necessity, “Micah Parsons did an outstanding job for us for four years and a little bit of the way Herschel Walker may have had his greatest contribution to the Cowboys — what he brought to us when he left could be a tremendous thing for our fans and the success of this team.” He painted the draft haul as immediate currency, not abstract futures: “Nothing says we can’t use some of those picks right now, to go get somebody right now; don’t rule that out.”

His final message to a reeling fanbase was the promise of the ring: “This was a move to get us successful in the playoffs.”

From a distance, Parsons offered his own poignant eulogy for his time in Dallas, his words a stark contrast to the cold business of the day. “I never wanted this chapter to end, but not everything was in my control. My heart has always been here, and it still is.” He claimed his final attempt to engage with “empathy” was met with a blunt ultimatum: “play on the 5th year or leave.” He closed with dignity: “This is a sad day, but not a bitter one.”

When asked if Jerry felt Parsons truly didn’t want to be a Cowboy anymore, Jerry’s response was immediate and dismissive of the very premise. “I didn’t give that a thought.” Stephen Jones concurred, adding simply, “I never felt it.” Jerry further added, “A lot of capital is required to build a team. … It takes more than one. You do have to allocate your resources, whether it be draft picks or whether it be finances,” he stated, acknowledging the opportunity presented by Parsons’s immense value. As Mike Garafolo stated, their statement “Says they knew they could get a lot of resources back for Parsons.” 

The Cowboys, armed with capital and a renewed, hard-nosed philosophy, believe they’ve finally addressed a fatal flaw. The Packers, in a stunningly aggressive departure, have acquired a generational talent. And Jerry Jones, the eternal gambler, has once again rolled the dice, trading a superstar today for the promise of a championship tomorrow, forever chasing the ghost of his own greatest success. The difference this time is that the ghost is no longer just Herschel Walker’s; it’s Micah Parsons’s, and his shadow will loom over every game, every draft pick, and every playoff run for years to come.

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