ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys had interesting conditions added to the Micah Parsons trade that were not initially revealed. According to Schefter, the Packers will
have to give up their 2028 first-round pick if Parsons is traded to an NFC East team within the next year, apparently an effort to keep Parsons away from the Philadelphia Eagles.
Prior reports stated that the Eagles attempted to trade for Parsons, which the Cowboys refused to do because they were in the same division. For added context, Parsons was born and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and attended Penn State at the college level.
Beyond the Parsons end of things, defensive tackle Kenny Clark, part of the Parsons trade, cannot be traded by the Cowboys to an NFC North squad next year, or Dallas will owe the Packers their 2028 first-round pick. Clark is likely to be a cap casualty for the Cowboys, as he commands a $21.5 million cap hit in 2026. It’s clear that Dallas’ long-term plans at defensive tackle revolve around Osa Odighizuwa, who the team just extended this offseason, and Quinnen Williams, whom the team just traded multiple high draft picks for at the trade deadline.
Because of these conditions in the trade, though, both the Cowboys and Packers are unable to trade their own 2028 first-round selections until the 2027 offseason. Essentially, those draft choices are locked behind a vault, inaccessible for both squads, for the next year and four months plus.
