Cam Newton thinks the Cowboys WON the Micah Parsons trade 🤯 I First Take

Cam Newton thinks the Cowboys WON the Micah Parsons trade 🤯 I First Take

Other than me, any talk of trading is BS. There’s nothing to it. It’s just nothing to it. Jerry, you had said a couple weeks ago in an interview with Stephen A that you were never uh considering trading Michael Parsons. Is 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, I thank you for writing it. Oh, here we are. Just like we all predicted it. A shocker out of Dallas. We need to break this thing down and dissect it from every angle because it is a lot to unpack. Good morning everyone. Welcome into First Take. That’s Steve Nick Smith, Dan Olowski, Cam Newton on the big screen. Good to see you, Cam. Gentlemen, yeah. Can we just get this started? Yeah. All right. The blockbuster trade. Let’s go. Jerry versus Micah finally came to a head. The Cowboys traded four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Packers yesterday. In exchange, the Cowboys received threetime Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first round draft picks. Here’s Jerry on that trade last night. 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. 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. Not nothing at all in terms of uh uh regret. And you mentioned you’re asking if I regret No, I don’t regret that at all. Uh, 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. So, I’m excited. We got what we wanted. Make no mistake about it. We all know we could have signed Micah, but we decided to go with the trail. All right. It’s going to help them stop the run and be in the hunt. Meanwhile, Micah released a statement on social media Thursday saying in part, “I never wanted this chapter to end, but not everything was in my control. My heart has always been here and it still is. Through it all, I never made any demands. I never asked for anything more than fairness. I only asked that the person I trust to negotiate my contract be a part of that process. Stephen A. Jerry told you he was never going to trade Micah face to face. Are you surprised this happened? He also heard me face to face telling me telling him I don’t believe him. Not for one second. And certainly that ended up being the case because this is what it is. This is a disaster for Jerry Jones. This is a bad bad situation. Um, and I think this is something that’s going to taint whatever legacy he hoped to have because this is not a football decision. He can slice it any way he wants to. Micah Parsons is a superstar caliber player in the National Football League. You traded him for two late first round picks. That’s late. The Green Bay Packers haven’t had a top 10 pick since 2009. They’re usually in contention. This is going to be a low first round pick. You made them younger. You made them better defensively. Okay? So, you take those things into consideration and you they’re within the NFC conference. You know what? If you gonna trade Micah Parsons, trade him out of the conference or trade them to somebody like New Orleans or somebody like that. You don’t trade him to a Green Bay Packers team, who by the way is the last team to whip your ass in the playoffs. When you win the playoffs, the people that bust your tail was the Green Bay Packers. And so the reason why this is kind of something Cam and Dio that’s going to taint Jerry Jones is because in the end we’re all looking at it and we know this is not purely a football decision. Two first round picks and Kenny Clark a defensive tackle who had a down year last year does not equate to a superstar at age 26 that is Micah Parsons. By the way Clark is three years older. It doesn’t equate to that. you if you had made this deal in March and opened the floodgates to everybody, then there’s no question that you would have had a better deal offered to you than the deal that you just agreed to last year with CD Lamb when you waited till August to sign him. You cost yourself like $64 million. $64 million in space that you could have utilized to get additional talent on the squad. So you waiting and waiting and waiting, that’s not new to us. That’s bad, but it’s not new to us. What’s new to us is that this was clearly not for football reasons. This was because you thought you had a handshake agreement with a young man that was basically pleading with you talk to my representation and you ignored him. And by the way, it’s the same agent you’re going to have to deal with when it comes to George Pickkins if you want to resign him, assuming he plays lights out and he’s somebody you want to keep on your roster because he’s got the same agent as Micah Parsons. all of these things that you take into consideration for Jerry Jones to make this move. I mean, for me personally, it don’t bother me. This is going to give me more stuff to laugh about, but on this particular morning, I I don’t I I don’t like to see Jerry put himself in this kind of position. It looks very very bad. This is not a good day for the Dallas Cowboys at all. Cam, I want to kick it to you. Are you surprised? Absolutely not. I’m more surprised that you know you have a situation where Stephen A your words this is not a football decision. If anything I will combat that and say this is everything about the football decision. Okay. Uh trading Michael Parsons freed up $24 million in 2025 salary cap space boosting availability funds for over $44 million. On top of that, at the bare minimum here, uh you can potentially get three players be three good players for the price of one. Now granted, is is Michael Parsons a cornerstone player for the Dallas Cowboys? Absolutely. Being able to garner 52 and a half sacks over a four-year span, unheard of. Exceptional. But when you’re saying price to value, Jerry Jones has identified and said this what somebody was willing to pay a person I was not willing to pay. In order for you to get the person that is still up on the contract for the Dallas Cowboys, you’re going to have to pay top dollar, which the Green Bay Packers did. When I’m looking at this whole situation, I’m saying, “Hey, is this an emotional impact to the locker room?” Yes. But for the betterment of the locker room, you have an opportunity to get three potential players for future situations. That is undoubtedly something that you will want to say as a decision maker. But here’s the thing though, Stephen A and Dan to think about. We will know if this is a good trade for the Green Bay Packers in less than 6 months. We won’t know if this is a good trade for the Dallas Cowboys until about two to three years after those picks have already made their impact. And I think a good time to pause anyway because we’re on polar opposite. Stephen A just said this is personal, not business. And then Cam saying this is purely football, but obviously with the Dallas Cowboys, it’s going to take some time to see how it all pans out. Green Bay, he says the next six months, we’re going to know whether this was the right choice. Where are you on this? If it’s purely football, it’s a disaster and it’s one of the worst trades in the history of the organization. You don’t there Cam knows this. There’s only so many game records. There’s only so many game records. There’s people who like change games. This guy is one of the six or seven game records in the NFL. You don’t give that player away for the 30th pick of the draft for two years in a row. And while I agree with Cam, like we’re going to know with Green Bay because Green Bay unquestionably is the team now most equipped to beat the Eagles. They should be in the NFC Championship game. I know what Green Bay’s defense is going to be like. I don’t have to figure out if this is a win for them. I know now they got to go win the Super Bowl for the ultimate prize to pay off. But there’s no way that if you’re the Dallas Cowboys, you’re better. There’s there’s no way at a better as a football team. There’s no way that you’re better in a locker room. I’ve heard the the the stories uh or the the thoughts of culture and and while I respect that, I’ve never heard anybody talk about Micah being a bad worker or a bad teammate or not a competitive dude. And so that’s what you want out of your best players is to be these guys that every single Sunday show up. They failed in the playoffs not because the defense got boat raced, because the offense didn’t show up. That of course that’s going to be frustrating. And so I think I I look from a football perspective, Stephen A is 100% right. To get that late of a tradeoff pick-wise is such a miss by the Dallas Cowboys. No one is sitting here saying trading Micah Parsons is the dumbest thing ever. Everybody from a football perspective is saying when you did it is a loss to your football team. $19 million was freed up in cap space by the Dallas Cowboys, which now positions them to have the second most cap space of anybody in the NFL outside of the New England Patriots. Okay. You could have did that in March. Exactly. Okay. So when you trade and you get two first round picks, you might have been able to get three and it might have been able to be three better first round picks had you done it earlier and open the floodgates because competition might have compelled somebody else to be willing to give up more collateral as opposed to it being right now. This is why we’re bringing up Luca Donuch and we’re bringing up the Dallas Mavericks in the trade that took place because you didn’t talk to anybody but the Lakers and it was the last minute and you didn’t put it out on an open market where you could make sure you get an abundance of assets in return for that superstar caliber player who’s only about 25 years of age. Sim similar principle here with Micah Parsons. It’s not that he’s gone. It’s what you got for him in return. But most importantly, it’s why he’s gone. Because if you’re Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, you knew what the situation was financially, capwise, and beyond months ago. Last year when Michael Parsons wanted you to sign him earlier, you knew it then, but you wanted to keep him because you don’t let stars walk out the door if you’re Jerry Jones. But then suddenly you do. Why? It comes back to the why. I’m sitting in front of the man last week and this man was fixated on the fact that he got a call from Micah Parsons that said, “Don’t call me anymore. Call my agent.” And then he said, quote, “I don’t play that, bleak. I don’t play that.” This is what he said. You’ve got David Mulligetta who is recognized as one of the elite agents in the business. He refused to talk to the man. He said so. Yeah. There’s a reason we have representation. That’s a reason we have representation. He’s taking it personally. You see Michael M Irvin. You see Troy Aman speak on it. You’ve seen EMTT Smith speak on it. This was different. It wasn’t just football. I’m glad you said it wasn’t just football. Cam, I want to bring you back in here and you alluded to a point. Why am I now only hearing about culture involving Micah Parson? Never happened before. I’ve never and that he’s and he’s not well one of the most well-liked players. Cam, why is that now the conversation? I I I just I’m I’m gonna get to that point, Marley, but I I just want to make this this point uh in regards to the tra I’m not saying that you you do not miss something of impact with a player like Micah Parsons. I agree with Dan, bro. A record to say the absolute least. Yeah. what he’s been able to do, you know, while he’s been in this league has been nothing less than amazing. But what I was saying at the end was you don’t know price to value what you’re going to get from the Packers. You can find that out in 6 months or less. For the Dallas Cowboys, you find out in two to three years, maybe even more after you’ve garnered the picks and or made some type of decisions of acquisitions with those picks. See, that’s that’s where I’m at with it. And and that’s why I’m able to say this is has nothing to do with personal. This has everything to make more sense to put the Dallas Cowboys in contention. Yes. Is it a 30 a 30th pick or a late 20 pick? Yes, cool. But that still gives you two picks, two first round picks for two years, and that’s extremely valuable. Prescott’s going to be in his like 12th or 13th season. And so if we’re talking about continuing to build a football team that you think Jerry Jones is only going to be going so much longer. And so to to take there’s no way football sense wise that when you took Micah Parsons and you told everybody this guy’s going to be on a Hall of Fame trajectory that you sit there and go in four years we’ll get rid of him and four and we’ll get rid of him for you got fleeced. I think the most shocking part about this Cam Stephen A Molly is like for a man that is ridiculously successful business-wise he got punked business-wise. If we’re just being candid, David Moetta punked him. I don’t I I don’t look at it that way. I don’t look at it that way. Only in this regard, Dan. Yeah. The word punked I don’t think is is applies and it’s appropriate because the the whole point with Jerry is that the to me business went out of his mind and he was like the hell saying the hell with you. You know, I’m I’m not going to be punked. You’re not going to tell me what to do. I own this organization. I put myself on the line. I contemplated. My wife and family were worried about me committing suicide because of the kind of debt that I was in when I purchased this franchise and the kind of hole that I put in that I put myself in having three $1 billion lawsuits against me. This is the kind of stuff that he brought up last week. He regurgitates this stuff over and over because it’s in his mind. But I want to say this and I want to get back to Cam because Cam, let me tell you what bothers me about superstar talents like yourself when you come on the air and you say the kind of stuff you just said. So, we’re talking about six deals that took place this off season that were all considered recordbreaking deals. The six deals with the highest average annual contract given to non-quarterbacks all happened this past off season. Micah Parson’s yesterday. TJ Watt 41 million July 17th. Jamar Chase March 18th 41.25 million. Miles Garrett Cleveland 40 million March 14th. Daniel Hunter Houston 35.6 6 million. March 21st, Max Crosby, the Raiders, 35.5 million. March 5th. The point that I’m making in bringing that up, Cam, is this. Everybody ain’t y’all. When you sit up there and act like, “Yo, all right. These are good players and and we’ll see.” Wait a damn minute. They ain’t y’all. I don’t need to see. Okay. I don’t need to. it it’s not venturing too far to imagine like if you Carolina and you tried to replace Cam in his prime, you know, and you got two late first round picks and a real and a good player that’s coming off a down year. It don’t take Einstein to deduce that doesn’t measure up. Correct. Because we’ve seen you, we’ve seen Micah, we know what this brother brings to the table. That ain’t going to be enough. Two late first round picks for that brother. Are you saying that the Cowboys won this trade? That’s where you are this morning? I am. Yes, they won the trade. Because here, remove emotions. What I’m saying is this. In order to be good in this league of the NFL, you need one thing. That’s talent. Okay? That’s not to say that Michael Parsons isn’t talent. Bless you. What I am saying is, and if you do not have talent, what next do you need is acquisition ability to get talent. And that’s what Jerry Jones did. He has potentially five picks in the first round alone or no, he has four picks in the first round alone as of today. We don’t know what Kenny Clark is going to be. He’s made it abundantly clear and and and said this, we want to stop the run, right? So, we know Dan as a great player that Michael Parsons is, he’s an edge rusher. If you know any type of defense in this league, the first thing that they want to stop is what, Dan? We need to stop the run so we can make the offense become one-dimensional. So, all these things are are formulas that the Dallas Cowboys have said and implemented to insert moving forward. You know what? That that sounds beautiful. Eloquently stated, Cam eloquently stated. Bravo. Okay. There’s just one problem with your argument. The brother got the Yeah, that would be two I’m sorry, two of them. All right. One, that he’s wrong. And two, the why. The why is it ain’t just about him being traded. It’s where he was traded to. You’re talking about a contender within the same conference as the Dallas Cowboys that, by the way, whipped the Dallas Cowboys ass the last time they met in the playoffs a couple of years ago cuz Dallas didn’t make it last year. And then on top of all and then on top of it all, not only did that happen, the Packers didn’t either, but but all right, I understand it. But they guys, but we’re coming back. Bottom line is they got younger and better and they’re within the same conference as the Cowboys. four picks in uh the the first round over the next two years. The last two defensive linemen that the Cowboys have picked late in the first round because that’s where these picks are going to be have been Mazy Smith and Taco Charlton. Taco Charlton did not pan out and Mazy Smith has not either. You can have all the picks you want. If you don’t make the right ones, it’s not going to matter. The second thing is who won this trade? We’re talking about a team in Green Bay that has a top five offense now a top 10 defense or a top five defense. It’s going to now be the best pass rush duo in the NFC. You pair Parsons with Rashawn Garry, this team is the team to beat when it comes to um outside of Philadelphia. The last thing, Molly, is this cuz I I Cam, there’s no way. Real real quick though, I got to get in. There’s no way that we can sit here and say the Cowboys are an afterthought now. They’re going to have the worst defense in the division. [Music]

Cam Newton, Dan Orlovsky and Stephen A. Smith join Molly Qerim on First Take to discuss Micah Parsons’ move to the Green Bay Packers and how this will affect both teams in the future.

0:00 Jerry Jones’ comments
2:05 Micah Parsons’ statement
2:28 Stephen A. speaks on how he feels about the trade
5:10 Cam Newton is not surprised about the trade
6:58 Dan Orlovsky disagrees with Cam Newton
8:50 Stephen A. talks about what the trade timeline means for the Cowboys
10:45 Cam Newton speaks on why conversation has sparked around Micah Parsons not being the most liked player?
12:15 Dan Orlovsky talks about the most shocking part of this deal
12:40 Why is Stephen A. bothered by Cam Newton’s comments?
15:10 Which team won the trade? The Green Bay Packers or The Dallas Cowboys?

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