Kenny Clark is ‘here to ball’ in fresh start with Cowboys – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
The Cowboys new defensive tackle has big expectations.
FRISCO, Texas – New Cowboys defensive tackle Kenny Clark was getting his daughter, Kenaii, some ice cream on Thursday when he got a phone call.
The call was to inform him that he’d been traded from Green Bay to Dallas in exchange for Micah Parsons, one of the most significant trades in recent NFL history.
“I was shocked, but once Jerry and all those guys called me, Schotty and everybody, I just felt wanted. It’s a blessing, I’m appreciative of it.”
Clark said.
Clark, 29, has spent all nine of his NFL seasons with the Packers, where he was a three-time Pro Bowler. As he begins the next chapter of his career in Dallas, he says the Cowboys are getting a player that is difficult to stop when playing at his best.
“No nonsense, you’re going to get a dawg, somebody that’s just all about football,” Clark said. “I’m here to ball. I’m here to be my best self. I feel like when I’m my best self, there’s nobody messing with me. That’s what I bring to the table, I’m here to play my ass off.”
With six days to go until the Cowboys kick off the season against the Philadelphia Eagles, Clark has to quickly get acclimated to his new teammates as well as his role in the locker room.
“First and foremost, just establishing myself by how I play,” Clark said. “And just being myself, establishing myself as a leader. I lead by example, I truly believe in being a pro and doing things the right way.”
Parsons expresses relief, excitement for fresh start with Packers – Rob Demovsky, ESPN
Micah Parsons speaks as a Green Bay Packer.
Micah Parsons was beginning to worry his situation with the Dallas Cowboys might not get settled by the time the regular season opened, which is why on Thursday as he was leaving the team facility after getting treatment on his back, he placed another phone call to his agent, David Mulugheta.
Mulugheta was still putting the final details on Parsons’ blockbuster trade and massive contract extension with the Green Bay Packers, but Parsons was getting impatient.
“I told him that day, I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I need you to get something done soon,'” Parsons said. “I haven’t not played football this long since I was in seventh grade.”
Within a few hours, the Packers had sent two first-round picks plus Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark to the Cowboys. They also finalized a four-year, $188 million contract extension with Parsons that, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, included $120 million fully guaranteed at signing and $136 million in total guarantees, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
This after a training camp hold-in which Parsons never stepped foot on the practice field for the Cowboys.
“I did not want to be in a position where I was missing opportunities, not only to feed my family, but like I said, the brotherhood,” Parsons said. “Them guys wanted me on the field as bad as I wanted to be on the field. They look at me as [a] big brother, like, ‘he needs to be out there, I know we know we can win with him, I know what he can do out there.’ So, yeah, I was worried about that, but now that’s resolved.”
Micah Parsons trade impact on Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer – Todd Archer, ESPN
Schottenheimer’s first year in Dallas will be a challenge.
FRISCO, Texas — Brian Schottenheimer’s first year as the Dallas Cowboys head coach was already going to be a difficult one. That’s the nature of any job for a first-timer.
It was made more difficult Thursday when the Cowboys traded their Pro Bowl edge rusher, Micah Parsons, to the Green Bay Packers for two first-round picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark.
But there might be good news for Schottenheimer with the trade.
Expectations entering the season, which starts Thursday against the Philadelphia Eagles (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC), are low. ESPN’s Football Power Index gives the Cowboys a 28.2% chance of making the playoffs, 11.5% to win the NFC East and 1.1% to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
If the Cowboys overachieve, at least by outside expectations, then Schottenheimer will be in a good situation. If the Cowboys falter, Schottenheimer won’t take all of the blame because he was without a four-time Pro Bowler who recorded at least 12 sacks in each of his four seasons and was a three-time finalist for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
When the Cowboys were in Oxnard, California, for training camp and the saga between Parsons and the Cowboys front office — executive vice president Stephen Jones, owner and general manager Jerry Jones and vice president of player personnel Will McClay — dragged on, Schottenheimer was asked if he felt like he was caught in the middle.
“No, because I’m in communication with everybody. I mean I’m talking to the players all the time. I’m talking to ownership all the time. Stephen and Jerry and I talk all the time, Will McClay,” he said. “You know, again, the business side is the business side.
“We’re not the only team in the league that’s going through this. It’s what happens in big business and with elite players. But, no, I think I’m certainly someone that has the ability to have conversations and taking a lot of information. I’m able to look at things from all sides.”
‘Sorry it had to happen like this’: Cowboys DL reveals Micah Parsons’ farewell message – Joseph Hoyt, Dallas Morning News
The Micah Parsons trade was a shock to many.
FRISCO — Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland didn’t have to finish reading the text message from Micah Parsons to know what it entailed. Intuition, and a slow-building inevitability, paired well with the beginning of Parsons’ text to him and the rest of the defensive linemen.
“Sorry it had to happen like this” Kneeland recalls Parsons’ text reading.
Kneeland stopped there and dropped his phone, knowing it meant Parsons had been traded.
Thursday was a shock to many. Blockbuster trades, like the one the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers struck, have a way of doing that. It immediately became a major story in primetime across the country.
It was a surprise to the players in the locker room, too, but it also came with a different reality. Not only had they lost a key player on their defense, but someone they know personally.
“Obviously it’s all love for him,” Kneeland said. “He had to go get paid, and that’s our dog. It’s all love.”
Cowboys bring back impressive UDFA defender to practice squad – Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire
Zion Childress is back with the Cowboys.
It’s been quite an up and down week for Zion Childress.
First, the 23-year-old safety was the only undrafted free agent to make the Cowboys‘ 53-man roster on Tuesday. That news came after an impressive training camp that had some wondering if he’d be named the team’s starting nickel corner for Week 1. On Wednesday, though, less than 24 hours later, the Kentucky product learned he was being cut to make room for one of two new cornerbacks the team claimed off waivers. Then he cleared waivers himself on Thursday, watching 31 other teams pass up on the chance to add him to their active roster.
But on Friday, he had a star on his helmet once again and was back at work on the field, the Cowboys having re-signed him to their practice squad.
Brian Schottenheimer says his goals “haven’t changed” after Micah Parsons trade – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
Schottenheimer still has tunnel vision for what he wants the 2025 season to be.
In the week leading up to the trade on Thursday, Schottenheimer and Parsons spoke about his actions during the team’s last preseason game, where he laid down on one of the team’s medical tables behind the bench. During those conversations, the thought that it would be one of the last times the two spoke together never crossed Schottenheimer’s mind even though the team had discussed the possibility of a trade.
“You never know,” Schottenheimer said. “You’re not certain until it’s done. And one it’s done, it’s done. That’s the best way to handle that stuff…”
“I’ve been pretty upfront and honest that I was confident he’d be back. At the end of the day, we’re happy for Micah, his family, you look at the deal that he got and that’s awesome. I wish him nothing but the best.”
Schottenheimer says that once he got off the phone with the Jones family, he began to call 12-14 of his players to check in on them after the trade. The names included that of Trevon Diggs, one of Parsons’ closest friends, as well as Dak Prescott and Dante Fowler.
“I wanted them to hear my voice,” Schottenheimer said. “You never know how guys are going to take news like that, but I thought it was important for them to know two things: I’m a connections guy, [and] I’m not afraid to have hard conversations.”
One of the larger conversations that he had to have was with his entire team, which Schottenheimer spoke to on Friday morning before their first practice in preparation for the season opener. His message?
“Nothing’s changed, my goals haven’t changed, our team goals haven’t changed,” Schottenheimer said. “I hit the players on that today after I talked about the tough couple days for all the guys. It doesn’t change, the standard is the standard.”
