The Dallas Cowboys made the move of the year, and not necessarily in a good way, when they traded Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers.
The team got two first-round picks and Kenny Clark back in the transaction, but with just days remaining before the NFL trade deadline, Jerry Jones’ purportedly crucial run-stopper is a firm trade candidate.
That is according to Bill Barnwell of ESPN, who listed Clark as among the team’s “notable trade candidates” on Thursday. A three-time Pro Bowler, most recently in 2023, Clark’s performance dipped last season and has fallen yet further this year.
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Pro Football Focus ranks Clark as a below-average interior defender in 2025 — 68th out of 128 players who have seen enough snaps to qualify at the position. His run defense is particularly poor, grading out at 46.0, which is 101st out of 128 DIs.
That is obviously not what Dallas had in mind when Jones proclaimed the deal shipping Parsons to Green Bay made the Cowboys more equipped to defend against the run.
Clark has been a quality pass-rusher up the middle this season, accounting for 23 pressures, 19 hurries and two sacks. But that’s not why the Cowboys acquired him, and Clark’s success in that area hasn’t been meaningful to the overall outcomes for a defensive unit that has been injured and porous all year long.
Dallas is surrendering 404.6 yards per game to opposing offenses, which is 31st in the league ahead of only the Cincinnati Bengals. And the Cowboys are allowing 31.3 points per contest, which also ranks 31st in the NFL ahead of just Cincinnati.
The team has been hunting an edge-rusher to replace Parsons ahead of the trade deadline, but so far has whiffed on big-swing proposals for Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson and Maxx Crosby of the Las Vegas Raiders.
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