The NFL world was shocked yesterday when the Cowboys traded star pass rusher Micah Parsons to Green Bay. When I heard about it, the first thing I thought of was Reggie White.
Fans of the 90s Packers (like me) know that while Brett Favre and Mike Holmgren deservedly get most of the credit for the teams that went to 2 Super Bowls, bringing in Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White was equally transformative for the defensive side of the ball. He averaged 11.5 sacks in his six seasons with the team, with Green Bay ranking No. 1 in both scoring and points allowed the year they won the Super Bowl (1996).
This deal is a lot more expensive (White was a free agent), since Green Bay gave up two first-round picks and starting tackle Kenny Clark to bring in Parsons. And a lot of money. But he could have a similar effect on the defense. And White was 31 years old at the time he signed with Green Bay, having played eight seasons with the Eagles. Parsons just turned 26 and has been in the league four seasons, an All-Pro twice. Entering his prime: it's fair to say he hasn't yet played his best football.
In those four seasons, he's been one of the league's most productive defenders. Only four players have more sacks. And Parsons also has 256 tackles in that span. Among the 41 defenders with at least 25 sacks the last four years, only three have more tackles than he does. He's not a one-trick guy.
The table, compiled using search tools at pro-football-reference, shows total tackles and sacks by all those 25-sack defenders over the past four seasons, sorted by combined tackles and sacks. Tackles for loss and QB hits are also shown.
| COMBINED TACKLES AND SACKS (MINIMUM 25), 2021-2024 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | Sk | TFL | QBHits | Tckl | Tckl/Sk |
| Maxx Crosby | RDE | 42.5 | 75 | 117 | 280 | 322.5 |
| DeForest Buckner | LDT | 29.5 | 40 | 75 | 284 | 313.5 |
| Micah Parsons | LB | 52.5 | 63 | 112 | 256 | 308.5 |
| Cameron Heyward | DT | 30.5 | 47 | 63 | 267 | 297.5 |
| T.J. Watt | LB | 58.5 | 67 | 114 | 232 | 290.5 |
| Josh Hines-Allen | LDE | 40 | 50 | 88 | 239 | 279.0 |
| Leonard Williams | NT | 25.5 | 36 | 70 | 252 | 277.5 |
| Danielle Hunter | LDE | 45 | 58 | 77 | 232 | 277.0 |
| Zach Sieler | RDE | 25.5 | 37 | 56 | 250 | 275.5 |
| Alex Highsmith | ROLB | 33.5 | 44 | 66 | 239 | 272.5 |
| Brian Burns | LOLB | 38 | 63 | 76 | 234 | 272.0 |
| Nick Bosa | RDE | 53.5 | 71 | 139 | 208 | 261.5 |
| Myles Garrett | DE | 60 | 74 | 117 | 200 | 260.0 |
| Jeffery Simmons | DT | 26.5 | 42 | 50 | 228 | 254.5 |
| Harold Landry | ROLB | 31.5 | 43 | 58 | 216 | 247.5 |
| Leonard Floyd | RLB | 37.5 | 34 | 75 | 203 | 240.5 |
| Quinnen Williams | RDE | 29.5 | 38 | 78 | 207 | 236.5 |
| Cameron Jordan | LDE | 27 | 36 | 49 | 202 | 229.0 |
| Jonathan Allen | LDT | 25 | 39 | 73 | 199 | 224.0 |
| Khalil Mack | ROLB | 37 | 45 | 56 | 182 | 219.0 |
| Kyle Van Noy | LILB | 31.5 | 36 | 46 | 183 | 214.5 |
| Trey Hendrickson | RDE | 57 | 53 | 112 | 155 | 212.0 |
| Aaron Donald | LDT | 25.5 | 45 | 59 | 186 | 211.5 |
| Matt Judon | LOLB | 37.5 | 40 | 71 | 174 | 211.5 |
| Josh Sweat | DE | 33 | 38 | 74 | 177 | 210.0 |
| Haason Reddick | LLB | 39 | 38 | 70 | 169 | 208.0 |
| Gregory Rousseau | LDE | 25 | 46 | 66 | 182 | 207.0 |
| Preston Smith | LDE | 30 | 27 | 64 | 177 | 207.0 |
| Nnamdi Madubuike | DT | 27 | 38 | 64 | 177 | 204.0 |
| Rashan Gary | ROLB | 32 | 31 | 77 | 170 | 202.0 |
| Javon Hargrave | DL | 26.5 | 28 | 49 | 174 | 200.5 |
| Kwity Paye | LDE | 26.5 | 31 | 41 | 170 | 196.5 |
| Jonathan Greenard | RDE | 34 | 48 | 60 | 160 | 194.0 |
| Montez Sweat | RDE | 31 | 40 | 78 | 159 | 190.0 |
| Jadeveon Clowney | OLB | 26 | 33 | 53 | 154 | 180.0 |
| Chris Jones | RDT/LDE | 40 | 47 | 95 | 138 | 178.0 |
| Dorance Armstrong Jr. | RDE | 26 | 27 | 54 | 147 | 173.0 |
| Denico Autry | LDE | 31.5 | 33 | 60 | 121 | 152.5 |
| Aidan Hutchinson | LDE | 28.5 | 30 | 65 | 122 | 150.5 |
| Dante Fowler | ROLB | 25 | 32 | 36 | 115 | 140.0 |
| Yannick Ngakoue | LB | 25 | 23 | 52 | 93 | 118.0 |
Since March, three of the league's other best pass rushers have worked out new contracts with their teams: T.J. Watt and the Steelers, Maxx Crosby and the Raiders and Trey Hendrickson with the Bengals. That latter one is just a one-year deal, but still notable that the Bengals -- the Bengals! -- were able to make their star pass rusher happy, at least for the 2025 season. The Cowboys could only do so by trading him away.
Fantasy-wise, the numbers for both defenses have changed -- not only sacks, but related numbers (takeaways, defensive touchdowns) that are impacted by pass rush. In yesterday's pre-trade update, the Packers and Cowboys were 8th and 9th in our standard defensive rankings (1 point for sacks, 2 for takeaways, 6 for all touchdowns). Today, Green Bay is 3rd and Dallas is 14th.
If you're looking for some kind of silver lining for the Cowboys, most of the trades I can dig up involving multiple first-round picks being swapped for a player haven't worked out well for the team getting the players. (Some of these involve the Cowboys.) The most recent one is the Browns trading for Deshaun Watson. The Broncos also gave up two first-round picks for Russell Wilson. I think those teams would like to have those moves back.
Seattle traded two first-round picks for Jamal Adams a few years back. Adams never played more than 12 games in a season for the Seahawks. The Rams gave up two first-rounders for Matthew Stafford. They won a Super Bowl, so we can call that one a hit.
Two other trades that come to mind for me involving multiple first-round picks both involved the Cowboys, some years ago. The Herschel Walker trade (which Jerry Jones himself mentioned yesterday) is one. Dallas also traded two first-round picks for wide receiver Joey Galloway. That one was a disaster, with Galloway immediately getting hurt and never having a 1,000-yard season for Dallas.
My two cents is nothing too earth-shattering. Huge gain for the Packers. The odds of them landing a player anything close to Parsons with either of the picks they gave up are infinitesimal. When you make a first-round pick, you dream of landing a difference-maker anything close to Parsons; maybe you do so once every 5-10 years. Maybe.
Dallas has two future first-round picks, which with the Packers looking like a playoff team will probably be in the 20s. Maybe they hit on them, but if they get a player anything close to Parsons with either, it'll be a big surprise. Sorry, Dallas fans.
--Andy Richardson