Jerry Jones: Micah Parsons trade about making Cowboys better - ESPN

FRISCO, Texas — To Jerry Jones, the trade of Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers will make the Dallas Cowboys a better postseason team.

«This was a move to get us successful in the playoffs,» Jones said in a 46-minute news conference Thursday after the Cowboys acquired defensive tackle Kenny Clark and first-round picks in 2026 and 2027. «This was a move to be better on defense, stopping the run. This was a move to, if we get behind, not be run on. And it was a deliberate move, a well-thought-out move to make this happen.»

First, the Cowboys will have to get to the postseason without Parsons, who was selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first four seasons and also totaled 52.5 sacks.

Second, they will need their pass-rushing depth, led by Dante Fowler Jr., Marshawn Kneeland, Sam Williams, Donovan Ezeiruaku and James Houston, to become as forceful as Parsons, who is one of two players to record at least 12 sacks in each of his first four seasons since sacks became an official stat in 1982. Those five players have accounted for 73 sacks with Kneeland, entering his second season, and Ezeiruaku, a rookie, yet to record a sack.

Third, the Cowboys will need their offense, led by new head coach Brian Schottenheimer and quarterback Dak Prescott, who is returning from injury that cost him the final nine games last season, to score a lot of points, starting next week against the Philadelphia Eagles.

«In our judgment this gives us a better chance to be a better team than we have been the last several years,» Jones said.

Before last year's 7-10 finish, the Cowboys went 12-5 three straight years but were unable to get past the divisional round of the playoffs. In their last three playoff losses to the Packers (2023) and San