Micah Parsons announced his trade request away from the Dallas Cowboys with one of the most explosive social media posts you’re going to see. He not only said that he wanted a trade, but also claimed that Jerry Jones tried to trick him into a deal without his agent present, and that his agent has not had a formal meeting with the Cowboys’ front office yet.
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Whether he is actually traded seems unlikely. He is simply too good a player at a prime age and a prime position to let him leave for anything less than a king’s ransom. But maybe, just maybe, some team will be willing to pay that dowry. And perhaps, it will be the division-rival Washington Commanders, now coached by former Cowboys DC Dan Quinn.
Quinn’s Commanders look very good going into this 2025 season (though they are dealing with their own trade request from an All-Pro), but they would look even better with Parsons. As any team would. Parsons’ 52.5 sacks since entering the league are fifth in the NFL over that span.
Quinn was recently asked about Parsons during the Commanders camp, and his former coach was effusive. “I loved coaching him. I really did. And I’ll be connected with him for life,” said the head coach.
“[Parsons] had the versatility to do different things, so he challenged me as a coach. What if we lined him up here? What if I put him here? And sometimes I’d be like, ‘That didn’t look so good.’ And other times we’re like, ‘We got something.’ So he pushed me as a coach, to think differently. And then, it allowed us to be more versatile. But I had an absolute blast coaching him,” he added.
"I loved coaching [Micah], I really did. And I'll be connected with him for life"
Dan Quinn on Micah Parsons pic.twitter.com/e5BKtgTtf0
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) August 2, 2025
Was that pure honesty and respect? Or a little bit of gamesmanship in the hopes of recruiting Parsons to DC? Or maybe a bit of both? We would think that it’s mostly just honesty, with a sprinkle of hope that the Cowboys would ever even consider trading their best player to a division rival.
Because Quinn and Parsons are inextricably linked. They both arrived in Dallas together in 2021. And for Parsons’ first three seasons in the NFL, Quinn was his sensei and his mentor. Quinn was the guy who moved Parsons around both off and on the ball before making the decision that he was too impactful as an edge rusher to put him anywhere else.
At the end of the day, it would be one of Jerry Jones’ greatest missteps if he continued to be stubborn at the contract negotiating table with Parsons and actually went through with a trade as the defender requested.
That defense needs a cornerstone at edge rusher because they don’t have much else to build around right now. Quinn can say all the nice things he wants, but we reckon Jones would let Hell freeze over before he sent the three-time All-Pro to another NFC East team.
