FRISCO, Texas — Micah Parsons has officially broken his silence. Having not spoken since the start of training camp in Oxnard, deploying full and total radio silence since, thereafter, posting his trade demand publicly on social media, the four-time All-Pro stepped in front of a mic on Friday but, this time, it wasn’t for the Dallas Cowboys.
It was for the Green Bay Packers, the team he was traded to just one day prior, also landing a historic contract in the process.
"Everything happens for a reason," the three-time Pro Bowler said. "It's a blessing in disguise."
He also noted that, if not for the trade, he was indeed considering missing games in 2025.
It's been a rough road to get to this point in the relationship with the Cowboys, a divorce due to irreconcilable differences — having gone from Parsons declaring, 2024, that he wanted to be a "Cowboy for life" and boasting a sensationally close relationship with owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
The vehicle began wobbling this past spring, however, when contract negotiations went awry and then outright stalled, creating a stalemate that lasted months, throughout training camp and the preseason, with neither side willing to budge despite Parsons' presence in the building.
"[Green Bay] is the place where I feel I can take my next step and continue to have a great legacy here," Parsons said.
He'll get a fresh start at Lambeau Field in 2025, and the Cowboys will move on with two first-round picks acquired from the Packers, in addition to three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark.
Parsons says he still appreciates his time in Dallas, though.
"To Cowboy Nation, really, just thank you," he said. "I never left Pennsylvania, pretty much, until I got drafted. I was a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania guy that went to Penn State, and the moment I got drafted, I had a second home, and they welcomed me. They opened their hearts out to me, poured into me, and that fan base is a one-of-one.
"So thank you to the fan base."
And yet, happen like that, they did.
Parsons went on to say that he feels "great physically", after citing back tightness throughout July and August as the reason for being sidelined from practice, and that puts him on track to potentially play in the Packers' opener against the Detroit Lions but, more importantly, a potential homecoming game against the Cowboys on Sept. 28.
"I see the elite offense we've got to get through before we get to Dallas, another elite offense, with [Dak], CeeDee and Pickens," Parsons said. "I've got to focus on the others first but, come Week 4, we'll be ready."
For his part, head coach Brian Schottenheimer still views his former all-world edge rusher as someone close to him, regardless of how things ended.
"Micah's part of our family," said Schottenheimer. "That doesn't change. ... Micah's gone to Green Bay but he's still part of the family here."
Several signs point to that being potentially true, from the recent comments made by rookie defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku and second-year pass rusher Marshawn Kneeland, to Parsons' own words following the blockbuster trade.
But while that camaraderie might still exist behind the scenes, the fact is Parsons and the Cowboys have gone from working together to try and win a Super Bowl to now being in each other's way in the NFC.
To spin a legendary bar from the great Jay-Z: it was all good just a year ago.
