Jerry Jones & Stephen Jones Press Conference on Micah Parsons Trade | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Jerry Jones & Stephen Jones Press Conference on Micah Parsons Trade | Dallas Cowboys 2025

This is for Jerry and obviously Stephen. Um, why do you decide to trade Michael Parsons? Well, uh, without being too broad, obviously we did think it was in the best interest, uh, of our organization, uh, not only the future, but right now this season, uh, as well. Uh uh we’ve gained a Pro Bowl player. Uh we’ve gained a Pro Bowl player in an area that we had big concern in or concerns in on the inside of our defense. Uh let me be let me go beyond your question. First of all, I want to tell you that uh uh I really like Micah. Uh I appreciate the years, four years that we’ve had him here and uh he’s a he’s a great player and so we are very appreciative of the fact that he’s a great player. Uh there’s no question that I could have signed him in April. And so uh uh uh we all know that uh to uh have agreements all parties have to agree. Uh but uh this was uh by design. Uh I did uh make Mike on offer. Uh uh it wasn’t acceptable. uh and I honor the fact that it wasn’t uh done in the way that he wanted to do it through an agent. Uh so uh he was made an offer. There’s not an ounce of vindictiveness. There’s no uh bad feelings on my part about uh the fact that we didn’t come together on an agreement. Uh the uh facts are and we’ll cover it I’m sure with many of your questions. Uh but the facts are uh uh specifically uh we need to stop the run and u we haven’t been able to stop the run at key times uh for several years and uh when you uh have the kind of extraordinary pass rush that Michael had, then the way to mitigate that pass rush is to run at you. uh if the pass rush doesn’t get you ahead pretty big time uh and you’re playing even or behind then you’ve really got a problem in stopping the run. And so we have felt uh as we embark on changing things uh we have a coach that we’re mighty proud of and Brian and we’re excited about the changes that we’re making not only in the coaching staff but in the team. I think out of our 60 players that we would count as the activives and a percent of the practice squad, over onethird of those players are new. And so, uh, we are doing what I’ve said many times that if you are are the, uh, the one that owns and when you look in the mirror, you’ve got to change. And so that this was a very deliberate as you as it played out uh reflection on a key player that could bring us a lot of consideration, a lot of consideration now and the player that we got that can help us stop the run and a lot of consideration in the future. A lot of capital that is required to build a team. Um, it takes many players to be tried to play in the NFL. It takes 11 on the field at the same time. It takes a minimum of of 30 or 40 at minimum to uh have both defense and offense, not including players that are involved in our special teams. So, it takes more than one. And so you do have to allocate your resources, whether it be draft picks or whether it be finances, you have to allocate those resources. There was no question in our mind that Michael could bring us a lot of resources on a trade that has been on my mind since uh we hired Brian. And so there was no question uh as it turns out all the publicity about the uh uh not having a contract. Uh certainly you did your part in making sure that uh it was known that he was potentially available and I appreciate that very much and I say that a little tongue and cheek. I’m not really as serious about it. Uh but I will say this that it was important that we did get if we could get it the kind of interest that we got in making a trade for Micah. Uh he was an asset that we got four great years out of. Uh but when you are talking about making a contract the kind that he got and for the future that’s quite a commitment and none of that counts about what he did those first four years. It all goes against what he can do for you in the future the length of that contract and and maybe more. Well then you’ve got to really weigh how many players and I’m just going to give you this. Not only do we immediately get a player, but those draft picks could get us. I’m talking top Pro Bowl type players could not necessarily you going to be quick to say you won’t necessarily get those players. You got to draft them or acquire them. But they could get us as few as three or as many as five outstanding players. Now, not only do they contribute in a game that needs a lot of players on the field, not to be elementary, but they also give you better odds that they’re going to be a high percentage of those are going to be available just from the standpoint of attrition or from the standpoint of just sheer limit on how far one player can go. Very few players are Dion playing a 100 plays a game out there at the time. So this trade was not just thought about today. This trade has been going on in our minds and our strategies and being talked about. Uh it’s been going on uh all spring. Uh it culminated today and it came quick, but that’s the way things go. It does happen fast when it happens. But you’ve laid a lot of water. I mean, you’ve laid a lot of things out there on the water to uh make it happen. I want to be sure that uh uh our fans understand I think a lot of Micah and I wish him so much success. I don’t want him to have success when they play the Cowboys as much as uh I do want him to have overall success. But Michael Parsons did an outstanding job for us for four years. And a little bit of the way Hershel 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 uh fans and the success of this team. Uh Kenny Clark. Um we knew beginning uh we really knew beginning this spring that if we could pick up a top interior defensive lineman just to offset not having a pass rusher even though it’s Micah. But where we’re long where we’re strong is in our pass rushing depth. And we knew if we could get an interior lineman that that was at least something that would improve us right there on a top interior lineman. He comes in strong for us and he comes in accomplished for us and so we’re glad to have him. It was a prerequisite. We went down the teams and we only picked teams that had room on their cap that could pay Micah and we only picked teams that had top tackles and tier tackles that we wanted to have any dialogue with at all about a trade. That was the criteria of trading. top existing tackle that could come in here and play for us right now this year and offset the fact to whatever degree more or less that we don’t have that excellence that Michael Parsons has there but we do have the depth to come in here and do that and then if we could get the picks that we ultimately getting and we did have several teams that we might have had an opportunity to do something with we did have that and so uh this was no uh uh this was no instantaneous happening this afternoon over about a fivem minute period. Uh the other thing that I would like to say is I firmly did me a commitment to Michael this spring uh Micah uh and paid him and to pay him. At that time, I was battling and knew that the other alternative probably was I had no idea of what we might be able to get, but I knew that it was very likely to be several players that we could use those resources for all the way draft picks as well as cap space. And so that was on our mind. The minute that we saw that we were quite possibly were going to have an issue about uh whether or not we could do a contract or not. That gave us time. That gave us u imagineering. That coupled with bringing in a new coach and bringing in a new staff. We felt it fit for us to have more players, more excellent players if we do a good job of acquiring those players, plus have a team this year that would give us a better chance. Dare I say that? But absolutely, it’s not a uh it’s not a zero that we’re dealing with as far as how much better that we are trying to be. Uh even not having Micah. Um, I’ve got several other things to uh that I could answer a question with, but I’ll stop and just let you ask questions. The only other thing, you did an amazing job of covering it extensively, but uh cuz we have thought about this a lot, but the other thing came into play big was between coach Shottenheimimer and uh coach Eberloose uh and talking about the defense and obviously getting a player like Kenny Clark is we also feel like in addition to the depth is you can scheme pressure as well and uh I think uh coach Ilfloose has been really good at that. uh in terms of uh using scheme to get pressure on the quarterback. Uh but what’s tough to scheme is to stop the run. The other thing that I want to say is we not only gives us four first round picks over the next two years, we not only do that, nothing says we can’t use some of those picks right now to go get somebody right now. Don’t rule that out. What do you say to your fan base that looks at this and says they’re rebuilding right now? Well, again, we’ve certainly got a new coaching staff and a third of all the players are new and uh so obviously there is freshness, we’ll use the word new on that basis, but we have the highest paid player in the NFL at quarterback. And we made that commitment last year and we’re proud we made it. It had everything to do with this decision. everything it is. Give us every opportunity with Dak Prescott and Lamb and the base that we’ve got to win now. And so all you need to do this would uh I’m not so sure this would have been results had we not had Dak, but the fact that we have Dak, we need to stop the run. Yeah, we really do. We need to get the ball back. That’s why it was so important when you say that is to Kenny Clark was a big part of this and that was a part of winning right now and we feel like when you look at you know the frustration is we hadn’t been able to win the big game in the playoffs and we think it is a direct connection to not being able to stop the run and we think Kenny Clark’s going to be a big piece to that and we felt like because of our depth on the edge as well as the ability to be able to scheme pressure that we could make up for Micah because obviously he’s elite at rushing the passer that we could make up for that. And then in addition to it, as Jerry said so well, is we we do now have two ones in each draft over the next two years. And nothing says we can’t use one of those to improve the team this year, which we wouldn’t rule out uh this year. Clarence Hill, DLLS Cowboys. So, can you from a timeline standpoint, uh, when did you start negotiating with with Green Bay and when did you give them permission to talk to Mugaletta about a contract? Yeah, we’re not um, uh, I’m I’m not going to get into time frames uh, at all. Uh, but we didn’t have a deal until this afternoon. I’ll tell you, I can say that much. the rest of it. Uh it’d be hard to uh be uh not characterize the dialogue to pick a this call, this call, this time, this time. Uh we talked to uh Green Bay more than once, more than twice, several times. And that’s been uh frankly over the last several days. uh but it came to a head uh as far as uh acting on it. Uh remember there were three people that had to or three people there were three entities. First of all uh Micah uh had to have a contract with them that was satisfactory. They had to agree to the contract and then we had to agree to the trade. And so uh it’d be real inaccurate to just on our part say what our time frame was without knowing theirs. But uh I I will say that uh uh certainly it was uh probably still up in the air this morning when they went to practice. Uh Kenny practiced out there with them today. And so uh you might say that it was technically up in the air this morning. Make no mistake about it, what wasn’t up in the air was our uh consideration as a complete organization that if we could get this done with our terms, we would make the trade and that was a complete unonymity in the decision-making. When did you give them permission to talk to negotiate though? I’m not I uh I don’t know that I want to. Okay. Uh according to them, they came to you and and with and asked about doing a deal or or trying to get something done and you said play on the fifth year. Excuse me. Excuse me. Tell them to play on the fifth year or if you want to stay here. Who is they and we Parsons and Muetta? Did they tell Did you tell them to play on the fifth year? That they wanted to play on the fifth year? No. No. They I’m sorry. I’m sorry. They came to you as recently as this week or in recently and tried to jump start negotiations. You said play on the fifth year. We had some dialogue. I’m not going to get into specifics because I don’t think that characterizes it, but it was not in any way out of the order or anything like that. Uh but basically I think I’ve read where they said that I replied we’re playing under the contract as it exists right now. Get ready to play Philadelphia. Correct. Okay. That was correct. Okay. Thank you, Todd. Jerry Ton Archer with ESPN. Um, if you were willing to guarantee the highest non highest amount of money for a non-quarterback in March, but you’re also open to possibly making a trade, why not do more or look at it more before the draft where you would be able to gather those at least a player or picks then? Why wait until I’m I’m sorry. Um um I think your question is uh a question a question about uh my volition or about what I’m thinking. Is that correct? I’m just wondering why this wasn’t something that was could have been done before the draft to maybe you would have been able to g gather draft picks that you could have used in April to help the Cowboys. Yeah, I’ll speculate with you because I I uh haven’t gone that deep into my thinking about why I didn’t do it and when I should have done it and all that. Really, I’m not. And I’m not trying to be cute, okay? But uh when I offered Micah the contract that I offered him back in April, uh he flew in from out of the country, wanted to come right in. I said, “No, get you a night’s sleep and come on in the next day. Get you the next day.” he wanted to come right in. When I did that, we offered him a contract to come play for the Dallas Cowboys, and it was a good one. Okay. Now, it was more guaranteed than what I’ve been reported that was here now. But my point is without getting into detail that was a very genuine uh u negotiation and we changed I changed the amounts and then we left and then he called back and talked to Stephen. Stephen negotiated amounts. We did those, we changed those amounts that he called back from and then of course uh uh the rest is history. when the time came to say let’s go then it said well let’s start the negotiation and uh again uh nothing in the world am I criticizing Micah about at all that was ever bit his right and uh Micah has never been anything but so pleasant for me to be around I want to be real clear about it not that it implies that it’s not uh things are good here things are good here. We have just decided that it was in the best interest of our team to take the consideration that we have. We appreciate his four years, but we can take that consideration and we can win in our minds more than had we gone the other route and signed him. That’s not a negative on Micah. That’s just unique to our circumstances. Were there any trade discussions prior to the draft regarding Micah? trade discussions with who? With other teams regarding No. No. No. So, no. Could you have done something then? We had them. We had them, but we didn’t have them with anybody else. The draft’s in April, by the way, when we were talking to Micah personally. Right. It was at the end of the month. This was at the beginning of the month. I got you. Oh, you mean uh a day earlier or what? Come on. Come on. No, I’m I’m not frustrated with that. John Mashota with the Athletic. Uh Jerry, this is just making a move like this isn’t something that you normally do. You don’t usually move away from star players in their prime. Why Why is this different right now? As a matter of fact, I’ve been criticized for staying with players too long. The ones that have uh that have had, if you will, a relationship, a working together relationship. U I had that kind of relationship with Micah. Uh, like I said, I sat with him at a couple of one Super Bowl for sure and out here and knew his family. Had a hour and a half visit with his mother during the whole first half last weekend sitting there with me watching the game up in the box up in the suite where we watched the game. And so my point is, uh, there’s none of that here. Feel that very good about it. In our judgment, this gives us a better chance to be a better team than we have been the last few several years since Micah’s been here. Not any negative on Micah, but we’re trying to get better. We’re trying to stop the run and stay in the hunt. Did it bother you at all with the way maybe he carried himself, the laying on the training table during the game and and some of those things like that? Oh, that’s not um uh u that is not I didn’t see it. I saw pictures of that, but uh uh those aren’t uh ways that you uh make decisions uh make that you handle being a a player and a team concept and the sharpness and paying attention. First of all, ask our uh 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 like Lost Booker because of it Sunday or Thursday. Nick Nick Harris for Star Telegram. Jerry, you had said a couple weeks ago in an interview with Stephen A that you were never uh considering trading Michael Parsons. Was that a tactic at the moment or did your tune eventually change in the last couple of weeks? Do you really think if I wanted someone to be interested in him that I would say, “Oh, I’m going to trade him.” It’s the opposite. It’s the opposite. Of course, and I thank you for writing it. I really do. You had said that it was a unanimous decision uh to to make this deal today. Yes. Who was involved in that process? the entire coaching uh and the representatives of the entire coaching as well as our entire front office uh everyone that is involved that has an interest in going forward that we counsel with and as I’ve told you many times u contrary to maybe something that’s written sometimes or what I really do get uh huge input and and dialogue and opinions from everybody in our organization And this was unanimous. Was the leadership council of the players part of that uh part of that talk? Uh people that were on it were uh certainly had commented at points informally because of the fact that we were around the training camp and we got members that were training camp that are on that council. Tommy Stylescowboys.com. You said back in I think it was April that one of the things you were looking for from Micah before an extension was leadership. Did you see him take those kinds of steps for you and was that part of the decision to ultimately train him? Uh, I I I u uh uh I wanted uh an elevation because he was going to be elevated to a an elite status relative to financial, the percent of the cap that he got relative to all the players. And I really believe strongly that when you have that, then you have an added responsibility to show leadership for the whole team when you’re one of the six or seven that are getting twothirds of the money. Joe, Joe Hoy, Dallas Morning News. Um, Athletes First represents a good chunk of your Cowboys players, including Tyler Smith. David Moligetta represents George Piggin who’s on your team. Do you wonder if maybe the interactions you had or didn’t have with David Moligetta might have some ramifications in terms of negotiations down the road? Uh, from everything I I’ve heard from people that know him, uh, he’s not that fragile. And let me tell you something, you can’t do this stuff. You can’t do business like this and be around this and be fragile. I’m not. It still doesn’t mean you can’t get mad or you can’t get any way, but still uh I would think that with his background and what have you, he’s very professional and is uh uh very uh uh willing to keep his eye on the ball and not uh get caught up in a lot of the other emotion or things that go on. Now make no mistake about it. Uh negotiations and it’s not uh it’s not just uh player uh and as a matter of fact I I would like to make this comment uh these are young guys relatively speaking to this guy. These are young guys and they haven’t had times when these uh their their uh skills and their their wealth their being of what they’re contributing is measured up by some kind of negotiation over money. Now anybody that doesn’t understand that doesn’t understand human beings. We all get flare over that. I’m 82. I flare over it today. That’s part of that’s that’s that goes with it. And to understand that is uh uh frankly not necessarily you’re learning when you’re negotiating at the level Micah or his agents are, but certainly on down the line earlier. That’s a big part of evolving. Uh that’s why thirdyear linemen sometimes uh are better and show up when they didn’t show up in the first year. People evolve. I look at it that way. Uh J uh uh uh uh who was it? Stephen A. Stephen A said Jerry said, “You should have more grace. You should uh be a little more sensitive. These are young guys and you’ve been down that pike a lot and have it.” Uh what Stephen A got back from me was I’ve had more grace than any human I know of. I’ve had more grace. Forgiveness is just to say okay. Grace is when okay plus they give you a lift. That’s grace. You all know that. So having said that, I believe that in our players and I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have a big big big uh feeling uh for our players and frankly our coaches. And so uh uh there’s never been a case where I ever past a nancond had a bad feeling after we’re through with negotiations and we’re trying to sit down and uh uh uh go forward with what we said we would do and that’s play together. Uh you guys give me a great opportunity to communicate and I’m not the first one. You’ve had coaches tell you they communicate with their players through the people in this room. And so you guys give us a a great forum to express oursel in a way and our fans. I if I thought that it was sensitive to fans, uh then that’d be a different story, too. I don’t I think it’s a part another little nuance of being involved in our game. Thank you guys for involving them in these nuances. That’s why we uh did draft room cameras. That’s why we did all that. So, boy, I believe in the uh process and the uh discussion of the process and the questions you have about it. You you mentioned looking in the mirror. Um do you think you still plan to continue your player first negotiation tactic that you use with Micah here where you want to negotiate with him directly? Oh, I don’t think there’s any question. I uh I I uh once you are together, I’ve had hundreds of of times and incidences where literally hundreds over the last 35 years of where the kinds of relationship that I have with a player. And the things we do and that goes both ways goes them and me because those players that were 25 go up to be 55. And I’m still we’re still talking, baby. And we have relationships. That’s a natural thing to happen when you work together during uh times that bond you. And so I feel that way about that’s why I’m here, frankly. It’s my main reason for being here. So those things that go over those years are treasures with those with those guys. Their attorney or their agent isn’t necessarily anywhere to be found 10 years later. Not only that, sometimes they’re not even to be found because one guy in the agency’s got it handed off to another guy now. So these guys that are sitting here with your Dallas Cowboys and the people that are out here putting it on the line and going to build memories that are a part of their legacies and their families for years and years, then you can’t do that through an agency. I mean through a third party. At least I can’t. And so you’re absolutely right. If we’re going to be at that significant time and brother, this is significant. the financial consideration, especially nowadays, and it always has been, relatively speaking. When you’re doing that in a young person’s life, then I want to be where I can be. I want to be in the mix there. I want to be in the uh I want them to see me get mad or tear tear up or see me say, “God dog it, I’ll do it.” As old, Michael Irvin told me one time, he said, “Uh, Jerry said, “We’re just not going to do it. I’m just not going to do it.” Mhm. And I said, “Michael,” just we were just sitting there, the two of us. And uh I said, “Michael, there’s an old West Texas town called El Paso. I El Paso.” And he goes, “God knows. Give it to me. I can’t even deal with you on basis like that. Let’s go.” So my point is all that that time did was last. We’re still doing it. Yeah. 30 something years later. That stuff happens. And so I don’t view it’s a negative for the player either. They’re going to get more out of it, I hope, than if I’m around. They’ll get more out of it than just that contract. The only other thing I’d add to that is there we do have players that come in and 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. I mean, you’re not required to come in and negotiate the contract yourself. All the ones we’ve done like that are those who request to come in and visit with Jerry or myself. That’s the only ones we’ve done that with. The issue here was not to switch who we were talking with. The issue here was starting over after I had really dug deep, changed, dug deep more, dug more, dug more, handed it off to Stephen, he dug more, dug more. Now, are we through? We’re through. And then to say, let’s start negotiation. Pretty clever if you think about it on their part. That was pretty good. Scott Skyler Dixon with DAP. This might be for both of you if you have something you want to offer. Was there any point that you felt like Micah genuinely did not want to be here anymore? And if so, when was that point? I didn’t give that a thought. I never felt it. But uh but it felt felt I’ve I’m satisfied. M knows that I care about him. But as much as he uh uh but more important than that, I just want you to know I didn’t give it a thought. It didn’t change one thing I was doing. And I’m not trying to be anyway other than I just didn’t let that stop the train from accomplishing frankly what we end up accomplishing today. Don’t make so much out of that. Well, that not talking caused this thing to be be done. There’s a little thing called stopping the run. There’s a little thing called football team having the most having the resources of those picks and having the resources of player we got. That had a heck of a lot more to do with it than any hiccup we might have had in April. Sad the athletic. Uh Jerry, do you have any regrets over the process of the last few months and how things went? Uh I am very excited about very excited beyond any consideration of a regret of the consideration that we got in this trade and to have the player I’m very excited about that. It is more in keeping within my mind what’s in the best interest of the Dallas Cowboys. In terms of things that were said in the media about the agent, any things like that, do you is there any things that you would do differently if you were to go back? Oh, no. No, not at all. And not nothing at all in terms of uh uh regret. You mentioned, you’re asking if I regret No, I don’t regret that at all. U you know, I’m very very excited about the prospects of what we’ve done for the Cowboys here. I wouldn’t have done it. I wouldn’t have done it. I had total control over being able to have it the other way. So, I’m excited we got what we wanted. Ed. Edward, WFAA. Jerry, do you have any misgivings about trading a player like Micah to Green Bay, which is a team you have to go through to get to a Super Bowl and a team that has ended your postseason three times in your senior years? We cut it down by u 15 teams, 16 teams uh by uh uh in other words, there’s not but 31 other teams. And so you’re going to be playing half of no matter how you cut it. So we just cut it down by that. I apart from in our same division, apart from being in the same division, I don’t give that in consideration. There’s just too many other things, Ed, that you have to think about or resolve or come to grips with. That was a pretty far down the line one. Second question. You’re seven days from opening the season in Philadelphia. Is there any concern on your part about how your locker room will interpret moving on from one of the premier players in the organization? Not at all. As a matter of fact, uh uh I like what uh um I like what this does. But from a pl from the locker room from the locker room. I like No. If you say if I’m worried about the locker room, I am absolutely zero worried about the locker room. No lock. That’s not meant to diminish anything here. I’m just not concerned at all about the locker room. Um it takes a lot of players to play this game. Locker room knows that we just got a lot of good players. Don’t Jeff Gold was 54. Um, in your interview with Michael Irvin last week, uh, at the end of it, I don’t know if you were joking or serious, but you talked about having him come bring Micah in so you guys could figure this all out. Between the conversation in the spring and today, did you at any point talk one-on-one with Micah or try and figure this out? Did I talk to Michael Micah about I’m sorry I didn’t get the You had the oneonone meeting in the spring with Micah. Yeah. Between then and now. Was there any point that you went to him or he came to you and you tried to figure this out manto man after that meeting? No. But we were talking, baby. We were talking. Uh that’s you’re on the practice field. That’s the old deal. We had the practice field, but you’re talking about the spring. You’re aware of the talk we had on the practice field. But listen, listen. Well, everybody knew exactly what had happened and they they completely knew our numbers and so that’s not I’ve been in negotiations where not a lot was said then too because uh you had given your numbers and so uh there wasn’t but one thing left to do and that’s increase the numbers from their standpoint. Okay. Mine would have been come in. So to say that we didn’t know what the Now to be very candid with you, there is a litany of detail that the agent as well as our office would have gone over with that agent of detail. But the big ones, the years, the amount, how it’s paid, that type of thing we had uh discussed. Uh I get it and I think everyone does get it too. They wanted to go where I stopped and they wanted to go from there. Is that is that hard for anybody to see? That’s where they wanted to start. That’s where I stopped. Now, all you could do is pick up the phone, say that to each other. You talked many times about your relationship with Micah being unusual in some ways that you had socialized. You know, we talked about the Super Bowl moment. Do you feel like over these months? Uh could you feel the deterioration with that relationship? I hadn’t had a chance to watch a game with him or go to another Super Bowl. I would have to tell you after we said let’s do that. So, so I mean I’m not trying to be cute at all. We we have been negotiating and u we basically said quit talking on the phone and so we weren’t talking on the phone during that time and u I probably don’t have three people got my phone number and he’s he was one of them Garrett Garrett Pel CBS Sports Jerry Micah had 12 plus sacks in each of the last four year is very productive for other Cowboys players coming up the line. They see how this negotiation with Micah went. How would you answer their question? Well, gee, what do I have to do to get an extension if Micah can’t get one? Ask Dak, highest paid man in the NFL. There’s a lot of players that they could ask that have been paid down around here. I’ll pay players. So what makes this different? Because we wanted to look and see if we could do what we did. That’s the tra the benefits of the trade made it different. Make no mistake about it. We all know we could have signed Micah, but we decided to go with the trade. Hey Jerry, Pat Noni with NBC V here in Dallas. One month from today, Michael will be in AT&T Stadium playing in a Packers uniform. Have you allowed yourself to think about that? And what are you expecting that night to be like for you when he plays on Sunday Night Football against your team? Well, I had to play uh EMTT Smith when he was a Cardinal and that was uh that made it hard. Uh but obviously we have to play a lot of players that uh have I mean we play when I say play them we compete on the teams that they’re on athlete the Cowboys it’s free agency that’s that’s what happens. uh uh Micah will be a uh will be problematic. Very problematic. Uh uh I’d suggest that we uh uh get ahead and run the ball. Last one. Sydney. Sydney Staples, DG10 Sports. Uh for you, Mr. Jones, what do you have to say to the fans who may be really frustrated, upset, confused by this decision? Well, I would like for them to look at uh a lot of what we’ve talked about here and that’s why I’m saying what I’m saying here because I want them to be interested and involved in looking at it. This was a move to get us successful in the playoffs. This was a move to be better on defense, stopping the run. This was a move to if we get behind uh of not be of of not be run on. Uh and it was a deliberate move, a wellthoughtout move to make this happen. Uh the other thing that I would say is that we have a chance to get a minimum of three and it could very easily be as many as five really top players. And you got to look at three to five to one over who’s going to help you win the most. And it was strictly that because it’s not only the draft picks that you have as currency, but is the available cap room. And we can take that available cap room that we were going to use with Micah and we can pay three to five players with that that we wouldn’t have been able to buy. And it’s an allocation. It’s not a volition. It’s an allocation of money. And so we chose to have numbers of players that we could pay handsomely that would be those caliber of players, not practice, not not young practice squad players. We’re talking players that can really compete. And so for our fans, I think we’re better off having those numbers of players. I think we’re better off from attrition from as you know this game is uh in many cases built around planning injury and knowing that you’re going to have injury. Uh you have injury, you’ve got five players rather than waiting on one, not waiting but looking at one player, you’ve got better odds of having uh of we’ve of having if you will availability for it. So, this gives us the best chance. And we’ve tried it in a way that way. And our fans as well as my mirror is saying, “Come on, let’s change something up. Let’s do something a little different here.” Well, how about Brian Shottenheimimer? How about loading up with some uh some resources called of cap room and draft picks? And how about bringing on those kinds of changes? How about philosophically doing our defense a little different? How about bringing in some better blocking on the offensive line? We have done all of that and this is a part of it. All righty. Thanks everybody. Thank you guys.

Cowboys Owner, President, and General Manager Jerry Jones and Chief Operating Officer and Co-Owner Stephen Jones speak with the media about trading All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for two first-round picks and DT Kenny Clark.

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