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Rob Demovsky
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Micah Parsons was beginning to worry that his situation with the Dallas Cowboys might not get settled by the start of the regular season, which is why Thursday, as he was leaving the team facility after getting treatment on his back, he placed another phone call to his agent, David Mulugheta.
Mulugheta was putting together the final details on Parsons’ blockbuster trade and massive contract extension with the Green Bay Packers, but Parsons was getting impatient.
“I told him that day, I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I need you to get something done soon,'” Parsons said. “I haven’t not played football this long since I was in seventh grade.”
Within a few hours, the Packers sent two first-round picks plus Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark to the Cowboys. Green Bay also finalized a four-year, $188 million contract extension with Parsons that, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, included $120 million fully guaranteed at signing and $136 million in total guarantees, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
The move occurred after a training camp hold-in when Parsons sat out of Cowboys practices because of back tightness.
“I did not want to be in a position where I was missing opportunities, not only to feed my family, but like I said, the brotherhood,” Parsons said. “Them guys wanted me on the field as bad as I wanted to be on the field. They look at me as [a] big brother, like, ‘He needs to be out there, I know we know we can win with him, I know what he can do out there.’ So, yeah, I was worried about that, but now that’s resolved.”
Parsons flew to Green Bay on Friday, passed his physical and signed his contract. He picked No. 1 for his jersey, becoming the second Packers player to wear that number and first since Curly Lambeau in 1925-26, and held a 24-minute news conference. He was scheduled to fly back to Dallas on Friday night and return Sunday to work with Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.
Parsons said he does not expect his back to be an issue.
“I think physically, you know, I’m great,” Parsons said. “I think I can contribute a lot. I’m going to team up with the doctors in creating a plan. We already talked about how we can ramp things up and get me into a flow where they feel comfortable and I feel comfortable.”
If all goes well, he said he plans to play in the Sept. 7 season opener against the Detroit Lions.
“They didn’t give up what they gave up for me to sit on the sidelines,” Parsons said.
Parsons said neither Jerry Jones nor Stephen Jones informed him that he was being traded. The news came from his agent.
Parsons also said he had no power over where he ended up but added that he was happy it was Green Bay.
“Y’all don’t understand how excited I am to be here,” Parsons said. “I hope they understand the type of player that’s going to come into this building every day to get better. And I understand what Kenny meant to this organization. I’m never going to try to replace him. I just want to try to sustain the standard that he left here and his print that he left and the same with the other prestigious guys that came into this program.”
The Packers hadn’t traded a first-round pick for a veteran player since 1992, when they acquired quarterback Brett Favre. Even though current general manager Brian Gutekunst gave up two first-rounders and a Pro Bowl player for Parsons, Gutekunst said he still thought it was a long shot for most of the negotiations.
“The chances of these things happening are pretty slim, and I think that was my mindset the whole time, was keep the conversations going because of the uniqueness of the player,” Gutekunst said Friday. “But I don’t think it was really until the last few days that I actually thought, ‘Hey, there’s an opportunity here to close this thing out.'”
Before the trade, the Packers had +2000 odds to win the Super Bowl this season, according to ESPN BET. After the trade, they were +1600 and quickly moved to +1400, sixth best on the odds board. Green Bay moved from +1000 to +850 to win the NFC, and from +260 to +225 to win the NFC North.
The Packers have not been to the Super Bowl since the 2010 season, but they have made the playoffs in five of coach Matt LaFleur’s first six seasons, twice reaching the NFC championship.
“I feel like that’s always the expectation around here, I feel like since the day I was hired,” LaFleur said Friday. “So, you just approach it no different than we have in the past. Trying to be your best each and every day. Trying to get a little bit better. It’s a long year, there’s a lot of variables that come into play throughout the course of the season, and certainly it’s just how well you stick together in the tough times. As far as expectations, that just is something that comes along with being a Green Bay Packer.”