Will the Dallas Cowboys trade game-wrecking defensive playmaker Micah Parsons in 2025?
So long as the Kansas City Chiefs have Andy Reid at head coach and Patrick Mahomes II at quarterback, they will be viewed as a very attractive destination for veterans and youngsters alike — but would KC trade for a rising superstar that’s looking for a new contract?
On December 30, social media aggregator MLFootball relayed that “the Kansas City Chiefs [currently] have the 2nd best odds to TRADE for superstar OLB Micah Parsons if [the] Dallas [Cowboys] move on, per @BovadaOfficial.”
Bovada also confirmed these betting odds by reposting MLFootball on X.
“Parsons, the former Rookie of The Year, is already a 3x Pro Bowler and 3x All-Pro and is on pace to be one of the all-time great pass rushers,” MLFootball reminded. Obviously, there would be a line of suitors if the Cowboys ended up shopping Parsons via trade.
Flashback one year ago and Dallas had three integral superstars that needed to be extended. Quarterback Dak Prescott, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and the aforementioned Parsons.
They chose to take care of Prescott and Lamb first — and both playmakers followed up on those extensions with injury-riddled seasons. That leaves Parsons and the all-important decision of; should the Cowboys pay their stud draft pick once again, or should they retool behind a blockbuster trade package this time around?
On December 19, Parsons was very candid in telling reporters that he “want[s] to be back” with Dallas in 2025, per The Athletic. He even stressed that he doesn’t need to be paid $40 million per year — a number that would outpace San Francisco 49ers superstar Nick Bosa by $6 million per season.
“It would just be nice to be surrounded by good players,” Parsons explained. “Players that will help you win championships, I’ll say that. To me, having $40 million and [being] chipped every play and slid into with three or four people, that doesn’t sound too fun to me. So, to me, it’s about people that can keep making a difference… I want to keep as many guys [on the Cowboys] as possible.”
Dallas is projected to have approximately $19.965 million in available cap space in 2025, with $21.324 million of their resources being allocated to Parsons’ fifth-year option. Re-signing him is not impossible by any means, but the Cowboys will have to either shift some things around or backload the deal if they want to extend Parsons while also adding talent around him.
As MLFootball said, Parsons is a former first-round selection and three-time All-Pro (two first-team, one second-team) at age 25. He has already achieved 50.0 sacks in just 62 regular season starts, plus 1.0 career sack in four playoff outings.
Parsons is having what is considered to be a down year by his standards, but that’s mostly due to injury. The game wrecker missed four starts in 2024, leading to a career-low in sacks (9.5) and tackles for a loss (10), but he’s still put together a dominant campaign as a pass rusher from an analytical standpoint.
According to Pro Football Focus, Parsons ranks fifth in the NFL in pass rush win percentage this season (minimum 20% of snaps played) and third behind Aidan Hutchinson and Myles Garrett in the PFF pass rushing metric PRP (“a formula that combines sacks, hits and hurries relative to how many times they rush the passer”).
In other words, for the fourth straight season, Parsons has proven to be elite at getting to and bringing down the quarterback. Imagine that type of impact defender supporting Chris Jones.
