Five Completely Unreasonable Trade Scenarios for Micah Parsons to the Chicago Bears

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

There’s no way it would happen. It’s impossible. Silly to even think about it. We shouldn’t talk about it, really.

But….what if.

Breaking: Micah Parsons has requested a trade from the Dallas Cowboys, he announced on social media. pic.twitter.com/GZ4xjRy63E

— ESPN (@espn) August 1, 2025

Let me take you back a few years. It’s the summer of 2018. The Chicago Bears have just hired a hot name in coaching circles as an offensive innovator. They have a well-regarded defensive coach manning their defensive coordinator position. They are

entering the second season of their first-round quarterback’s career after an up-and-down rookie season led to the previous head coach getting canned. And another team is at an impasse with one of the best young pass rushers in football.

I was at an academic conference in a big banquet room trying to stay awake during the keynote address, and I looked at my phone and I nearly jumped out of my chair – and it was all I could do to keep myself from whooping and cheering. Because yep – the Chicago Bears had traded for Khalil Mack – completing Vic Fangio’s defense and setting the stage for a 12-4 season and the NFC North crown.

So anyway...

A potential trade comp for Micah Parsons: When 27-year-old Khalil Mack was traded from Oakland to Chicago, the Bears gave up two first-round picks, a third-round pick, and a sixth-round pick for Mack, a second-round pick, and a conditional fifth-round pick.

Now the 26-year-old… pic.twitter.com/tne8jxdXMS

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 1, 2025

Could history repeat itself? Well, the short answer is yes. Any trade is always unlikely until it happens. Most of the talking heads at the time thought it most likely Mack and the Raiders would work out a new contract – few thought the Bears were in the running for making a franchise-defining trade.

And here we are again. All of the factors I mentioned above for 2018 are true of right now in 2025. Now, Ryan Poles is not Ryan Pace – Poles has tended to accumulate picks and look to trade down rather than trade up as Ryan Pace was wont to do. However, what Poles has done is he has twice traded a high draft pick to get an established player: a 2^nd round pick for Chase Claypool (failed trade) and 2^nd round pick for Montez Sweat (looks pretty good so far). However, a trade for Micah Parsons would, like the Khalil Mack trade, blow both of those out of the water in terms of compensation.

It’s the summer and there was no training camp today – so let’s indulge our imaginations, shall we? Let’s consider some completely unreasonable trade scenarios that sends Parson to the Bears. These are unreasonable because any trade scenario where one of the top five defensive players in all of football, still in his prime, is a potential trade candidate. Teams do not trade these players. Except…in those rare instances when they do.

Trade Scenario #1

Bears get: Micah Parsons, Dallas Cowboys 2026 2^nd round pick

Cowboys get: Bears 2026 and 2026 1^st round picks, Chicago’s 2026 3^rd round pick

Yup, you guessed it – this is basically the same package as the Khalil Mack trade. 2018 Mack and 2025 Parsons are eerily similar players. 2018 Mack played the run better than Parsons, 2025 Parsons is arguably a better speed rusher – but the differences are trivial. Same type of player – same type of trade – why not?

Trade Scenario #2

Bears get: Micah Parsons, Cowboys 2026 4^th round pick

Cowboys get: Braxton Jones, Bears 2026 1^st round pick, Bears 2026 3^rd round pick

The Cowboys once vaunted offensive line has suffered recently from aging, retirement, and injuries. Tyler Guyton, the Cowboys starting LT, recently suffered a bone fracture that will keep him out at least 4-6 weeks. Braxton Jones seems pretty close to 100% as he ramps up for the Bears, and the Bears have two candidates at LT to replace him.

Trade Scenario #3

Bears get: Micah Parsons, Cowboys 2026 3^nd round pick

Cowboys get: Montez Sweat, Bears 2026 1^st round pick

Here the teams swap their number one defensive ends, with the draft compensation accounting for the talent and age differences between Parson and Sweat. Dayo would stay put as the Bears #2 defensive end.

Trade Scenario #4

Bears get: Micah Parsons, Cowboys 2026 2^nd round pick

Cowboys get: DJ Moore, Bears 2026 1^st round pick

In this trade the Bears make a move from an area of strength – their deep wide receiver room, in order to get Parsons to pair him with Sweat on what would suddenly be one of the best defensive lines in football.

Trade Scenario #5

Bears get: Micah Parsons, Cowboys 2026 2^nd round pick

Cowboys get: Austin Booker, Tremaine Edmunds, Chicago Bears 2026 1^st Round pick

In this trade scenario, the Bears help their old pal Matt Eberflus reunite with his MLB center-fielder in Edmunds for his H.I.T.S. principled 4-3 zone defense. We also give the Boys a young defensive end prospect, and we give a 1^st for a 2^nd round pick.

Are any of these trade scenarios likely? Of course not. Are they enough compensation for Parsons? Probably not. Are these trade ideas too much for the Bears to give up at this point in their rebuild? Sure. It’ll never happen. The odds are astronomical. No way!

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