What would it take for Patriots to land disgruntled Cowboys star Micah Parsons?
Parsons demanded a trade on Friday, as he and the Cowboys have failed to come to terms on a long-term extension.
Micah Parsons wants out of Dallas, and it appears New England might be a destination if the Cowboys opt to respect the star edge rusher’s request.
The Patriots were among the early betting favorites to be the team Parsons plays for in 2025, helping to spark some trade rumors.
For New England, the reasoning for a possible pursuit of Parsons is obvious. The 26-year-old has been one of the best pass rushers since entering the league in 2021, recording at least 12 sacks in each of his first four years in the league. It’d also fill a need for a Patriots team that ranked last in the league in sacks last year (28) and struggled to get consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
For Dallas there isn’t much motivation to trade Parsons, even as the team has struggled to come to terms on a long-term extension with him. In fact, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones dismissed Parsons’s trade request as “part of negotiations” on Saturday.
“Not really. Not really at all,” Jones said when asked by reporters if he was surprised by Parsons’s trade request. “This is just negotiation.”
So, a possible trade for Parsons might be a long shot at the moment, but his trade request at least signaled a fracture in his relationship with the Cowboys. If the relationship continues to deteriorate in August, that could allow any team to swoop in and make a deal.
That’s what happened when the Raiders traded star edge rusher Khalil Mack to the Bears in 2018. That trade might also serve as a good comp for what Parsons might land in a potential trade, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. In that deal, the Bears gave up their first-round picks in the 2019 and 2020 drafts, plus a third-round and sixth-round pick to get Mack, a 2020 second-round pick, and a 2020 seventh-round pick from the Raiders.
A possible trade for Parsons might cost a little more than that, though. Parsons was arguably a better player through his first four seasons than Mack was. In addition to recording more Pro Bowl nods, Parsons has been in the top five in pressures in each of the last three seasons, leading the league once, per Pro Football Focus. That includes last season, when he missed four games.
Whoever trades for Parsons would almost certainly have to give him an extension as well as he enters the final year of his rookie deal. Considering his age and production, Parsons will seemingly become the next player to set the record for the largest contract ever received by a non-quarterback in NFL history.
T.J. Watt became the latest player to earn that honor, agreeing to a pricey extension with the Steelers in July as contracts for elite pass rushers have exploded this offseason. He signed a three-year, $123 million deal that gives him an average salary of $41 million.
However, Watt’s deal didn’t set a record for guaranteed money among non-quarterbacks. He earned $108 million guaranteed in his new deal, which trails Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett for the most guaranteed money ($123 million) in a contract for a non-quarterback. 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa ($119 million) and Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase ($112 million) also have more guarantees in their contracts than Watt.
So, it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities that Parsons’s next deal is worth over $41 million per year with at least $123 million in guaranteed money if he’s seeking to completely reset the market. That would instantly become the richest contract in Patriots history, breaking the record Milton Williams broke with his four-year, $104 million ($63 million guaranteed) this offseason.
When you factor in the draft capital that the Patriots would have to give up as well, that’s certainly a rich price to pay. However, they have nearly $60 million in cap space as of Sunday, and acquiring a player like Parsons would instantly change the dynamic of their defense, possibly making it a well-worth price to pay.
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