Despite leading 21-3 in the first half, the Green Bay Packers fell victim to an epic Chicago Bears comeback and were bounced from the wild card round, 31-27. This is great news for the Dallas Cowboys, as the Packers’ loss secured them the 20th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft courtesy of the Micah Parsons trade. Had the Packers won, that pick would have slid down to 25, and potentially even worse if Green Bay kept winning. Fortunately, that’s no longer a concern, and the Cowboys will now have two
top 20 picks for the first time since 2005, when they drafted an eventual Hall of Fame edge rusher.
While the first-round exit helps the Cowboys, it’s an unfortunate result for the Packers. Their team suffered a huge blow when Parsons tore his ACL against the Denver Broncos in Week 15. The Packers entered that week with a 9-3-1 record and were leading late in the third quarter before Parsons left the game. Sadly, they lost that game and went on a five-game losing streak, culminating with the wild card loss against the Bears on Saturday.
The Packers won’t have a first-round pick in each of the next two years, and the cheaper fifth-year option season of Parsons is now over. Going forward, Parsons will be expensive. Additionally, this undersized edge rusher is now coming off two straight seasons where he was hurt, and will be coming off an ACL injury which will require plenty of rehab to return to his unique athletic abilities.
Speaking of a former Cowboys player with an ACL injury, the Packers claimed cornerback Trevon Diggs off waivers after he was released by Dallas at the end of December. The marriage between Diggs and the Cowboys was a tumultuous one that contained many levels, including but not limited to…
- Not completing his rehab at the Cowboys facility, resulting in a $500,000 de-escalator
- He suffered a mysterious concussion that may or may not have something to do with a stripper pole
- He wasn’t activated from IR because he had poor practices and wasn’t following the direction of the coaches
- After the Christmas game, he was denied permission to stay in Washington, but did so anyway
Combine all of that with him having one of the worst performances in the league by a corner, and it’s easy to understand why the Cowboys cut ties with him. Physically, he wasn’t a good player, and mentally, he was a huge headache.
But one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure, according to a fairy tale written in 1860 (thanks, Wikipedia), and that is what the Packers are hoping when it comes to Diggs. Maybe the Cowboys’ defensive coaching staff was just so toxic that it turned a once-talented corner into a hot mess of a corner? That’s a possible scenario. After all, the entire secondary of the Cowboys was bad, not just Diggs.
But there’s also a possibility that Diggs might not be good anymore. Maybe that knee needs to get stronger, and the Cowboys ran out of patience, whereas the Packers are willing to give him a bit more time. In the regular season finale, Diggs played in half of the defensive snaps. People had different opinions about how he did. There wasn’t much to go on. He was thrown at twice, allowing a 20-yard gain while lying back in cover 2, and then a bang-bang play that prevented a completion on a quick slant. You can see them both here and here and decide for yourself what you think.
It was a good way for Green Bay to get a feel for what he can do as they head into the playoffs. Oddly, Diggs only played in one play on the Bears’ opening drive, and that was it. On a 3rd-and-8 play, Caleb Williams connected with Luther Burden on a quick pass, but Diggs sluffed back so far that he had no chance to make the stop, keeping the chains moving for the Bears.
It’s unclear why that is all we saw of Diggs. The Packers desperately need help in the secondary, and the Bears marched into Packers territory on eight of their ten possessions, despite not finding the end zone until the fourth quarter, where they then scored three-straight touchdowns. Decent corner play would have been a huge help for the Packers’ defense, but for whatever reason, they didn’t feel playing Diggs was the right call.
Claiming Diggs means the Packers now own the rights to his contract. He has no guaranteed money left on his contract. Green Bay finished that off by paying him just over half a million for his one-week game check. He is under contract for the next three years for the following amounts:
2026: $15.5 million
2027: $20.5 million
2028: $21 million
If Diggs somehow returned to his pre-injury form, those would be cheap prices to pay for this former All-Pro corner; however, that doesn’t seem very likely. The Packers will get him back into their facility with a full training camp before they have to decide how to proceed with him. They could cut him anytime, and they would have lost nothing other than the hopes that they could rekindle the fire of a once-great corner.
If the team wants to continue with Diggs next season, chances are it’s going to take some type of renegotiated deal that reduces his cost to a more acceptable annual salary. However, doing so would require more guaranteed money. The question then becomes, is Diggs willing to swallow his pride and take a pay cut? And if so, just how much? As a side note, Diggs has a new agent now, and it’s the same as Parsons’ agent, David Mulugheta. These factors combined could lead to a re-done deal that features minimal guaranteed money, but a respectable base salary if Diggs were willing to bet on himself.
And that leads us to this conclusion: Diggs and Parsons won’t even play together again. By the time Parsons returns to the field healthy, the Packers may then have determined that Diggs isn’t worth his cost and cut him loose. Is this a dark ending for a couple of former Cowboys BFF’s who are reunited with fresh starts in Green Bay? Yes, but it’s well within the range of outcomes. Only time will tell.
