FRISCO — The Cowboys are moving on from the explosive trade of Micah Parsons to the Packers and within that, his best friend, Trevon Diggs, is doing that, too.
It’s been difficult, but for one of the team’s best players, he’s got to not only encourage Parsons from afar, but get ready for a 2025 season opener that begins Thursday night in Philadelphia.
“I was sad of course, that’s my best friend,” Diggs said Tuesday of his reaction to last week’s trade. “I’d say extremely sad.”
Diggs and Parsons grew close over the last few years, especially when the cornerback was rehabbing from knee surgeries the last two seasons. Diggs has practiced the last two days and said he’s got a 70-80% chance of playing against the Eagles.
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He credits Parsons with helping him recover from having knee surgeries in back-to-back seasons. Parsons used to talk about the mental aspect of recovery as the biggest challenge for Diggs. It seems Diggs has grown in his recovery in dealing with teammates, coaches and support staff.
But he also understands the business of the NFL. The reasons behind Parsons’ trade to Green Bay last week vary. It goes from Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones taking contract talks with Parsons personally when the pass rusher wanted his agent involved in the discussions, which is his right and is supposed happen, based on league rules. When Parsons’ side attempted to reach a deal, Jones told Parsons and his agent, David Mulugheta to either play on the fifth-year option or be traded. Parsons chose to be traded.
So we’re here with the aftermath of that deal.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a business,” Diggs said. “But people always say never make it personal but when you go out there and lay your life on the line practicing hard and you in the game, you risking your body and stuff, it becomes personal because you care about it. You care about the game so much and you want to win, it’s hard to say that but it is a business at the end of the day. It’s also personal.”
Diggs has his own personal issues to handle with the team. He indicated he’s not too upset with the team enforcing a clause in his contract that he would lose $500,000 off his base salary if he didn’t workout at least 84% of the time in the offseason.
Team officials wanted Diggs to workout mainly at The Star, but instead, the corner did his rehab in Florida and reported back to Texas when it was mandatory.
The Cowboys still have until the start of the season to not enforce the clause but it doesn’t appear that stance will change.
“I don’t know, I should ask them,” Diggs said with a laugh.
When asked has he moved on from it, “yeah, I let it go but it would be nice if I can get my 500 back. If not, like I said before, it’s part of the business and I’ve just got to live with it.”
Over the last few days, Parsons has communicated daily with Diggs. There was a FaceTime call where Parsons showed Diggs what the Packers facility looked like and he was at the house when the trade went down.
“Just in his corner, always been coming from a small town, Harrisburg, Pa, so just a blessing to see him and see his family happy,” he said. “I went over there the day that he signed and they was all just celebrating as a family. I was just happy for him.”
A season is about to start and any misconceptions about the type of teammate Parsons was, and most players that spoke with reporters Monday and Tuesday had positive things to say about him, are in the past.
Diggs has no choice but to move forward. He’s got his own issues to worry about, like making sure his body is good enough to play in the opener or if not at some point in September.
“I think everybody was surprised, I was really surprised,” Diggs said. “I really thought it was going to get done. He was going to stay and family [living in Dallas], just him being here all these years. But unfortunately, that’s not what God had for him.”
Yet, Parsons being the ultimate recruiter he’s always been, was he asking about Diggs’ future?
Has Parsons been recruiting you for the Packers?
“Ha, ha, ha, ha.”
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