JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
For Dallas Cowboys fans, this year's season starts with a loss even before the first game.
DAVID SENTENDREY: You get this blow to the chest after your best defensive player - arguably your best player on the whole team - is traded to the Green Bay Packers, a team that many believe now is a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
That is David Sentendrey, a local reporter with Fox 4 in Dallas, Texas.
SUMMERS: And the player who was traded is defensive end Micah Parsons.
SENTENDREY: It's not one of those situations where you're like, all right, the Cowboys have been horrible for a long time, and this team is just in the gutter. I think it makes it worse because fans think they are just, like, one player away or just a couple players away from making that final push. And then their best player is gone.
CHANG: But what about long-suffering Cowboys fans? How are they taking the news?
SENTENDREY: One fan I was speaking with said, Micah's gone, I'm gone. Sell this team. I don't think he's gone as a fan, and we know that Jerry Jones is not selling this team, but that's what he was saying in the moment. He was saying, Jerry's got to go. He went on to say, and now Micah Parsons is gone. We traded him for a bag of SunChips (laughter).
SUMMERS: Jerry Jones, who has always kept more of a hand in the day-to-day than most NFL owners, sent Parsons packing to Green Bay - not for a bag of chips exactly, but for a pair of future draft picks and a replacement at defense.
SENTENDREY: Anyone who watches the Cowboys knows that Jerry Jones likes to have the Cowboys talked about in the media. They are not the most successful NFL franchise for no reason. And a lot of people thought this was just another way to see the Cowboys front and center heading into the season.
CHANG: Parsons was a 2021 first-round draft pick from Penn State. He sent quarterbacks scrambling during the 2024 NFL season. But with a losing record and no playoffs or big games in the Cowboys' season, Parsons sought greener - or should we say Green Bay - pastures.
SUMMERS: (Laughter) Here's David Sentendrey.
SENTENDREY: Micah Parsons had requested a trade. He's obviously one of the best defensive ends in the NFL right now. And this was about a contract, what many things come down to in the NFL.
SUMMERS: This is not the first gut punch for Dallas sports fans this year. First, the Mavericks traded their international superstar and fan favorite to the Los Angeles Lakers.
CHANG: And now the city's Pro Bowl defensive end.
SENTENDREY: Who takes the blame? It's a mixed bag. I think a lot of people are blaming Jerry Jones.
SUMMERS: Well, we're not in the advice business, but if we were, the best cure for a loss like this one - more wins on the field for the Cowboys.
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