Trading Micah Parsons is a bold move only a general manager who happens to be the team owner can make.
Parsons is a generational player, an elite talent in his prime. Quarterbacks fear facing the two-time All-Pro pass rusher. Offensive coordinators have sleepless nights thinking about ways to game-plan against him.
Parsons has been wreaking havoc in backfields since his rookie season in 2021. Any team would love to have a game-wrecker like him on their side.
Yet, the Dallas Cowboys were willing to send Parsons to the Green Bay Packers in a blockbuster trade Thursday following a lengthy, messy contract dispute.
Parsons, who was under contract this season, wanted a new deal to become the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history after T.J. Watt topped the money Myles Garrett received earlier this year.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was willing to make it happen except only on his terms. He negotiated directly with Parsons in April. Parsons wanted his agent, David Mulugheta, to finalize the deal. Jones didn’t want to restart the negotiations. Following a lengthy hold-in, Jones told Parsons to play under his current contract terms or go elsewhere.
So, he’s headed to the land of Lambeau and Lombardi, aiming to bring the Packers another Super Bowl title. And, Parsons got the money he wanted. A person with knowledge of the details told The Associated Press the Packers are giving Parsons a record-setting $188 million contract that includes $136 million guaranteed. Jones said he offered Parsons more guaranteed money. The person, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the terms weren’t announced, said that wasn’t accurate.
"I just want to do whatever I can to help the Packers win a championship,” Parsons told the AP.
The Cowboys get three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks. Presumably, the picks will be late in the round because Green Bay, an 11-win team last season, should be even better with Parsons.
On the surface, the trade makes little sense for Dallas. But Jones is the general manager and the boss doesn’t have to answer to anyone.
The Cowboys could’ve forced Parsons to play for $24 million this season or sit out, though they probably wanted to avoid a bigger distraction. They could’ve waited to move him before the trade deadline or after the season to the highest bidder. Getting two first-round picks now doesn’t help Dallas in 2025 but Jones insisted Clark, who turns 30 in October, somehow makes the defense better.
“Our judgment, this gives us a better chance to be a better team than we have been the last few several years since Micah’s been here,” Jones said. “Not any negative on Micah, but we’re trying to get better, we’re trying to stop the run and stay in the hunt.”
Jones mentioned several times the team’s desire to improve its run defense in an attempt to justify the trade. He’s right. The Cowboys couldn’t stop the run with Parsons.
They were 29th against the run last season, 16th in 2023, 22nd in 2022 and 16th in Parsons’ rookie year.
Parsons is one of only two players in NFL history to have 12 sacks in each of his first four seasons. Reggie White is the other. The Packers signed White in free agency in 1993 and won a Super Bowl with the Hall of Fame defensive lineman in 1996.
The Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl in 30 years, and haven’t even reached the NFC championship game since that 1995 season.
Even with Parsons, they were only 1-3 in the playoffs. Parsons had just one sack in those four games. It was in a win over Tampa Bay and the last sack ever recorded on Tom Brady.
But football is a team game. Parsons can’t be solely blamed for Dallas’ playoff failures. Neither can Dak Prescott.
The Cowboys finished 7-10 last season when Prescott missed nine games and Parsons missed four. Brian Schottenheimer is the new coach and Matt Eberflus is the new defensive coordinator.
They could have a better record this season, which would make Jones right. The trade also frees up $19 million in salary cap space for this season, according to Spotrac.
It’s rare that trades of this magnitude work out for both teams. Jones was severely criticized when the Cowboys traded star running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings in 1989.
But that trade ended up being a lopsided one that helped build Dallas’ 1990s dynasty. The Cowboys, with Jimmy Johnson leading the way, used the draft picks they received in that deal, including three first-rounders, to build the foundation for a team that won three Super Bowls.
Parsons could team up with Jordan Love and a young, loaded Packers team to bring one or more championships to Green Bay.
The Cowboys could turn those two first-round picks into key pieces that help them regain the glory days of America’s Team.
There’s an urgency to rush to judgment in a society that craves instant reactions so Jones and the Cowboys will be skewered for this trade.
But maybe, just maybe, there’s a possibility it could be a win-win for both teams.
Time will tell.
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Dallas Cowboys defensive end Micah Parsons walks on the sideline during the second half of a preseason NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, and President Donald Trump’s approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
The results are a stark repudiation of Trump’s approach to the conflict, which has dragged on far longer than he originally predicted.
About two-thirds of U.S. adults say the war with Iran, which began Feb. 28, has not been worthwhile, according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents, as well as about 37% of Republicans.
The poll was conducted July 23-27, as the U.S. and Iran paused attacks following a nearly two-week escalation in the war. During the escalation, the U.S. targeted Iranian military and commercial sites while Iran attacked U.S. military facilities in the Middle East, resulting in additional deaths of American service members. Since the war began, 18 U.S. service members have been killed, but the Trump administration has sought to revise those numbers.
The survey reinforces how unpopular the Iran war has become at home, a potential problem for congressional Republicans up for reelection in November who have defended Trump’s military actions. Just 28% of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling Iran, a slight decline from 34% last month. Even Republicans appear to be increasingly unhappy with the prolonged conflict. Roughly 61% of Republicans approve of how Trump is handling Iran, an apparent decline from 71% in June. The margin of sampling error for Republicans is 6 points, so the decline is considered slight, but it’s still noteworthy given Republicans’ much higher approval of how Trump is handling the presidency overall.
Trump’s overall approval rating is at 33%, slightly below where he stood at this point in his first term and similar to where former President Joe Biden stood about one and a half years into his presidency, when inflation peaked.
Robert McClary, a 52-year-old Republican from Sugar Grove, Ohio, is skeptical the war could be brought to an easy conclusion and disapproves of Trump’s handling of it. McClary voted for the president once, in 2016, but recalls that during the last election, Trump campaigned on not starting new wars in the Middle East.
“I don’t have any trust in this administration at all and to why they brought us into this war, why they’re putting our soldiers at risk again,” he said.
The findings also indicate that most Americans’ goals for the conflict may not be aligned with Trump, who has repeatedly said the war was launched to keep a nuclear weapon out of Iran’s hands. While about two-thirds of U.S. adults say it’s “extremely” or “very” important to keep Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon — with Republicans especially likely to say this — even more Americans say it’s highly important for the U.S. to keep gasoline prices low or negotiate a permanent ceasefire with Iran.
McClary added: “I really don’t know what you can do now. I mean, you’ve kind of gotten yourself buried into this mess.”
There’s little appetite among Americans for a prolonged conflict.
Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults want to continue military action in Iran, while about 3 in 10 say the U.S. should pause military action and seek a renewed ceasefire through negotiations. About 2 in 10 want to completely stop military action in Iran and roughly one-quarter don’t know enough to say.
About half of Republicans say the U.S. should continue military action against Iran, particularly those who identify as “very conservative.” Republicans who identify as MAGA — part of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement — are much likelier than non-MAGA Republicans to say the war should continue. Non-MAGA Republicans are more likely to want a ceasefire or a complete halt to the military action.
Jennifer Norton, a 71-year-old Republican from Crossville, Tennessee, supports military action in Iran but has been displeased to see prices rising for things like beef roasts and hamburgers. Norton lives on a “modest income,” and things are getting expensive.
“I am getting a little impatient, but when I start to dwell on that for a minute, I remember Mr. President Trump is a brilliant businessman,” she said. “He can’t tell us exactly what he’s doing, but I trust that he’s doing something. I mean, he is doing fine.”
Independents and Democrats are more likely than Republicans to want to stop military action against Iran immediately, although about 3 in 10 Republicans want either a pause or complete stop to military action.
Ryan Sloan, a 39-year-old Republican in Lakeland, Florida, has come to disapprove of the conflict in Iran recently because he wants a better explanation from the Trump administration about why the war intensified in late July.
“Let’s face it, not everybody’s going to be happy with him,” Sloan said. “I just wish I’d have had more transparency about why things were going on the way they were.”
Many Americans continue to be concerned about the pocketbook impact of the Iran war. About 7 in 10 U.S. adults — 72% — say it’s “extremely” or “very” important for the U.S. to prevent domestic oil and gas prices from rising, up slightly from 67% in March.
Oil topped $100 a barrel last week, ending a brief period of lower prices when hostilities between the U.S. and Iran eased in June. Gas prices rose above $4 per gallon on average, and the elevated fuel price is hitting consumers in other ways, too. Inflation cooled last month but remains elevated, and consumer spending has slowed, with signs that Americans are taking advantage of sales and other incentives.
There are also indications that fluctuating gasoline prices are an increasingly big problem for many Americans. About 4 in 10 say the cost of gas for their car is a “major source” of stress in their life right now, compared to about 3 in 10 in February.
Mikal Baker, a 47-year-old political independent in Sandy Springs, Georgia, disapproves of the war in Iran and is frustrated by the effect on gas prices.
“I don’t see the benefit. I don’t see the total benefit of the American citizen for this war,” he said. But Baker is skeptical it will ever come to an end. “I can’t say it will ever be over with.”
Some Americans may be hoping that gasoline prices could stabilize or go down. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the next few months, down slightly from 45% in March.
Even as most Americans prioritize keeping gas prices from rising, a similar share say it’s “extremely” or “very” important to negotiate a permanent ceasefire with Iran.
About 7 in 10 Americans say it’s “extremely” or “very” important for the U.S. to reach a ceasefire agreement, slightly higher than the roughly two-thirds who say it’s at least “very” important to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. That’s also well above the 4 in 10 who say it’s “extremely” or “very” important to prevent Iran from threatening Israel.
Early in the conflict, Trump said the United States’ primary objectives were to degrade Iran’s military capability, eliminate their Navy and Air Force, keep them from gaining nuclear weapons and protect U.S. allies in the region.
Republicans, in particular, say it’s highly important to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. About 8 in 10 say this is at least “very” important, compared to roughly 7 in 10 who say that about preventing oil and gas prices from rising and negotiating a permanent ceasefire with Iran.
Sloan, the Florida Republican, believes it’s important to keep Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon, adding: “We are most definitely their number one targets once they do have nuclear capabilities.”
The AP-NORC poll of 1,165 adults was conducted July 23-27 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 6.0 for Republicans overall and plus or minus 5.4 for Democrats overall.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House about Dulles International Airport modernization, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, arrive to attend the dignified transfer of four U.S. service members recently killed in the Middle East, at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth salute as a U.S. Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Pvt. Isabella Gonzales of Carrollton, Texas, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, salute as a U.S. Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Pvt. Isabella Gonzales of Carrollton, Texas, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
