Management has plenty of options when it comes to keeping labor in line. If you\u2019re reading this and have ever had a job, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve seen this power exercised in at least one form of fashion at least once in your life. In the NFL, though, front offices have one lever they can pull that isn\u2019t common in most industries: sending your ass to some place you don\u2019t prefer to be.<\/p>\n
Post-Brett Favre, because of the winning the franchise has done, the Green Bay Packers haven\u2019t had much of an issue collecting talent. Before Favre, though, Green Bay was known as Siberia, a less-than-cute way to describe our beloved Frozen Tundra.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t believe me? Gil Brandt (RIP), who was the architect for two Super Bowl teams with the Dallas Cowboys, once tweeted: \u201cBack in the day we used to tell players we\u2019d send them to Siberia, aka Green Bay, when they\u2019d ask for a trade.<\/a>\u201d Even former Packers President\/CEO Mark Murphy, who played with Washington from 1977 to 1984, admitted, \u201cWhen I played\u2026Green Bay was the Siberia of the NFL<\/a>,\u201d while holding the title as the Packers\u2019 pseudo-owner.<\/p>\n While QB1, Aaron Rodgers famously stated, \u201cI think we can all understand Green Bay isn\u2019t a huge vacation destination. People come here to play with me<\/a>.\u201d A few years later, he gushed nonstop about all of the activities that there were to do in New York City as a member of the Jets.<\/p>\n Please spare me the comments telling me the benefits of living in Green Bay. I understand what living outside of major metros in the United States is like. For most of the first 26 years of my life, I lived in a county of about 20,000 people in an unincorporated community on a mountain. You\u2019d be preaching to the choir.<\/p>\n The fact of the matter, though, is that the US has about 340 million people, and about half of them live in 15 combined statistical areas, essentially metro areas. According to census data<\/a>, a little over 75 percent of Americans live in metros larger than Green Bay. So while Brown County may seem plenty populated to someone who grew up in small-town America, like me, others do have differing opinions.<\/p>\n So why bring this up? Because I believe it\u2019s critical in understanding what\u2019s going on with the Micah Parsons rumors.<\/p>\n Based on multiple conversations that I\u2019ve had over the past couple of days, here\u2019s my belief of what is happening and why we\u2019re getting all this Parsons trade buzz \u2014 beyond it just being a juicy trade hypothetical involving two popular franchises and a disgruntled All-Pro defender near the start of the regular season.<\/p>\n First of all, Parsons and the Cowboys clearly don\u2019t see eye-to-eye on contract compensation after owner Jerry Jones\u2019 direct-to-player conversations that excluded Parsons\u2019 agent, David Mulugheta, failed to produce a deal. Jones, a multi-billionaire who was humble enough to center himself in a recent Netflix series about the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>\u2019 Super Bowl runs in the 1990s, did what most powerful people do when they don\u2019t initially get what they want: He flexed his influence.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where this \u201cI\u2019ll send his ass to Siberia if he doesn\u2019t sign this deal\u201d part of the equation comes into play. Hey, it probably worked in the 1990s, where the Cowboys seem to be perpetually living.<\/p>\n Parsons isn\u2019t exactly a homebody. If he\u2019s not in Dubai on vacation<\/a>, he\u2019s recording a podcast<\/a> or hanging out at a multi-billion-dollar CEO\u2019s party<\/a>. He can do these things as a member of the Packers, no doubt, but these actions don\u2019t scream \u201cI would like to live a quiet life as a family man,\u201d which generally attracts people to Green Bay. The cold \u201csmall town\u201d is for an acquired taste, on the relative scale of millionaire athletes in their 20s.<\/p>\n Jones identified Green Bay, the stardom that comes with being the face of the Cowboys and the NFL\u2019s trade culture as leverage he could take advantage of. Unfortunately for him, Mulugheta is no pushover.<\/p>\n As a super agent for Athletes First, one of the largest agencies representing NFL players, Mulugheta\u2019s roster includes the likes of Deshaun Watson, who received a fully guaranteed $230 million contract, and stars like Jordan Love, Derek Stingley Jr., Jaycee Horn, Jalen Ramsey and Xavier McKinney. So what does Mulugheta do when an owner threatens to trade a player in a contract dispute? Mulugheta gets a number.<\/p>\n If you want to stick your head in the sand and believe tampering doesn\u2019t happen in the NFL, I envy your belief in people\u2019s willingness to follow rules even when it doesn\u2019t benefit them. First-hand, I\u2019ve overheard discussions that would violate league rules over drinks at the combine. Just this week, Chicago Bears running back Mike Davis admitted that the Bears tampered with him directly<\/a> while on a podcast. Also, [gestures vaguely at everything happening in college football and the transfer portal<\/a>].<\/p>\n Rules are only as strong as their enforcement. As long as you have plausible deniability in these cases and don\u2019t leave a paper trail, the NFL can\u2019t hit you with a hammer. This part is heard loud and clear. Remember when quarterback Matthew Stafford and Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay just happened to run into each other in Cabo during a trade sweepstakes<\/a>? Plausible deniability! No paper trails!<\/p>\n Parsons has been caught breaking the rules before, back during his college recruitment. As a top-five prospect who was initially considering attending Ohio State, he was the subject of recruiting violations<\/a> that eventually barred the Buckeyes from recruiting him further. The smoking gun in this case? A photo. No paper trails!<\/p>\n In Mulugheta\u2019s case, it helps that he also reps four Packers: Love, McKinney, Kingsley Enagbare and Malik Willis. Enagbare and Willis are in contract seasons<\/a>, meaning that Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst should be calling Mulugheta anyway. On top of that, the NFL cutdown deadline just passed, a busy period for front office-representation discussions. If Gutekunst and Mulugheta didn\u2019t use some middleman for communication, a call between them wouldn\u2019t even seem out of the ordinary at this time of year. Plausible deniability!<\/p>\n A source familiar with the situation told me on Thursday night that the deal Parsons\u2019 camp believes he can secure from the Packers is around the rumored $45 million per year floating around the internet<\/a>, give or take, depending on how much money is guaranteed. For now, though, it\u2019s in Mulugheta and Green Bay\u2019s interest to deny any conversations have even happened<\/a>, beyond a number to use for Parsons in negotiations with the Cowboys. No paper trails!<\/p>\n In a way, Mulugheta getting that number from the Packers turned the gun around on Jones\u2019 threat. You want to send us to Green Bay? Well, we think they\u2019re willing to reset the non-quarterback market. Nothing more has to be said. Both sides know the score here.<\/p>\n And I believe that\u2019s where we stand today and where all these leaking rumors stem from. Jones wanted to use Green Bay as a threat to Parsons, who still ideally wants to be in Dallas, but more than that wants to be compensated at the rate that his agent now knows that he can get from the Packers. Meanwhile, Jones has told Green Bay \u2014 and the rest of the leagu,e for that matter \u2014 that Parsons isn\u2019t available, which he should continue to do until he\u2019s absolutely sure that he\u2019s ready to pull the trigger. So it\u2019s time for Jones to make a decision: follow through with his threat or pay Parsons his money.<\/p>\n Right now, it benefits both Parsons and Jones, who both ultimately want to get a deal done, to use the Packers to call each other\u2019s bluffs. But time is ticking. Flights out of Dallas and second opinions on a back issue<\/a> can buy them some time, but that won\u2019t last forever. Parsons is set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2026, but he needs to accrue at least six regular-season games this year so that his contract doesn\u2019t toll and rollover into next year.<\/p>\n