Stephen Jones Believes Cowboys Have Right Pieces Thanks to Micah Parsons Trade

The Dallas Cowboys were able to add several new faces to the defense after trading Micah Parsons, and Stephen Jones believes they're in a better spot now.

Dallas Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones at training camp at the River Ridge Fields. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Dallas Cowboys were criticized harshly when they decided to trade Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers ahead of the 2025 season.

While they landed a good haul, with two first-round picks as well as defensive tackle Kenny Clark being sent in exchange for Parsons, they were letting go of an elite player. That criticism only grew louder when their defense was among the worst in the NFL last season.

Now that the Cowboys are ready to begin a new season, however, the trade doesn't look nearly as bad. Stephen Jones even said he believes they now have the right pieces in place while appearing on Mad Dog Radio on Tuesday.

Trading Parsons led to a defensive rebuild

Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Quinnen Williams warms up prior to the game against the Kansas City Chiefs. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Jones was asked how he feels about the Parsons trade now that a year has passed and the Cowboys have utilized the draft assets they gained. Jones said he's optimistic that they are in a better place, saying Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark give them two alphas on defense. He also said the team believed adding multiple good players was better for them than paying Parsons.

"You know, I just feel very optimistic that we have the right pieces in place to go out and, you know, that ultimately, you know, the decision we made was, you know, that one player is not worth, you know, four or five good ones," Jones said.

"And we feel like that's where we're going to end up here and in a good spot. And, you know, we had that opportunity there and didn't feel like we were one player away last year, but I certainly feel like we're putting the pieces together, you know, to give us an opportunity to go do what our fans deserve, what we want, which is to go try and win, win the big trophy."

Cowboys made the right call in trading Micah Parsons

Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals. | Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Let's get this out of the way first, how the Cowboys got to the trade was an absolute disaster. Jerry Jones allowed the contract negotiations to get personal, eventually trading Parsons which felt as though it was a spiteful move.

That said, the move was the right one and Stephen Jones was able to explain why.

Parsons is an elite player and deserves the four-year, $188 million contract he signed with Green Bay after being traded. He could even prove to be the missing piece for them as they chase a title. For the Cowboys, however, they weren't one player away.

As bad as they were on defense in 2025, there was no way that Parsons alone would have fixed things. Instead, they needed to completely rebuild the unit and trading Parsons allowed them to do that. Outside of the draft capital, trading Parsons freed up cap space so the Cowboys could extend players such as Tyler Smith and DaRon Bland.

This trade wasn't popular, and it definitely hurt them in 2025, but Dallas made the right move for what they needed.

— Sign up for the Cowboys Daily Digest newsletter for more free coverage from Dallas Cowboys on SI —