The Micah Parsons stat that convinced Jerry Jones to trade the edge rusher to Green Bay

Dan Guttenplan

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The Micah Parsons stat that convinced Jerry Jones to trade the edge rusher to Green Bay image

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones takes pride in being a great salesman, so his comments that his team improved immediately by trading Micah Parsons for an aging defensive tackle and two future first-round picks can certainly be viewed as a bit of salesmanship to a disappointed Dallas fan base.

However, according to a story written by ESPN insiders Jeremy Fowler and Don Van Natta Jr., the Cowboys were concerned with Parsons' ability to hold up against the run as they negotiated whether to make the edge rusher the NFL's highest-paid defensive player.

"And while Parsons' presence in the lineup was impossible to replicate -- by expected points added per play from 2021 through 2024, the Cowboys were the NFL's best defense with Parsons on the field and the league's worst by the same metric when he was not -- Dallas also believed there were times when his skills were counterproductive to the winning cause," according to the ESPN piece. "Parsons ranked 68th among edge rushers in stop rate against the run and 81st in yards per run stop last season, according to the FTN Football Almanac."

The defensive tackle acquired in the Parsons deal, Kenny Clark, was targeted to address one of the team’s biggest weaknesses: stopping the run.  Clark, a two-time Pro Bowler, is considered a strong run-defender.

"For Jerry, it came back to we have got to be able to stop the run," the source close to Jones said. "Micah does not do that. In fact, because we couldn't stop the run, it made Micah less effective. Then they're going to run right at him, and that's not what he does. We could not take care of mission critical."

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Dan Guttenplan

Dan Guttenplan is a freelance writer with The Sporting News.