Micah Parsons is gone. After four years as a Dallas Cowboy, he's moved on to cheese heads and Lambeau Field.
In the wake of his departure, how has the Cowboys' locker room responded? Some pundits have predicted doom for the team's morale after trading away one of their best players. But quotes from players and observations from reporters say otherwise.
Jon Machota, the team beat writer for The Athletic, described the mood inside the Cowboys' facilities just days after the blockbuster trade.
"If there's this sentiment that people think everybody is just distraught in the locker room... I mean today in the locker room I have to duck because they're playing garbage-can basketball here and ping pong over there," Machota said on the One Star Cowboys Podcast. "It is not is this 'oh my god' the gloom in the locker room."
"I just don't get the sense it's as catastrophic as some people might think," Machota added.
He went on to explain that out of the players he's spoken to, the two seemingly most distraught about the deal have been Trevon Diggs and CeeDee Lamb. Diggs and Parsons have a close relationship and Lamb has been a public advocate for Parsons.
“Obviously wishing him the best. I hope he has the best season ever. He’s Micah Parsons, he’s unblockable. He’s unstoppable," Lamb said.
The team's leader and highest paid player, Dak Prescott, has expressed surprise about the trade but added that there was no need to address the team after it happened.
"I don't know if there was a necessary meeting or things needed to be said or handled or had... it's just good to be past it," Prescott said. "As I said, both parties are happy."
Dak Prescott on the Micah Parsons trade: “I definitely didn’t think he was going to get traded. But just with the way their negotiations went down, obviously to some extent, hell, y’all were asking me questions, it seemed like it got personal on their ends, so that’s why I wasn’t… pic.twitter.com/znlkzXwbz0
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 31, 2025
The quotes and eyewitness accounts from reporters paint a vivid picture of how players feel behind the scenes. It's not a trade that came without surprise but Dallas is moving on with the guys they have in the building.
"When Dak got hurt it felt like a funeral at times in some corners of the locker room," Saad Yousuf of The Athletic added to Machota's comments. "I was in the locker room the other day it was not that feel."
The energy inside the Cowboys locker room echoes a sentiment of losing a teammate but not the season.
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