This summer, the Eagles reportedly made the highest offer for Micah Parsons when it became clear the Cowboys were prepared to trade their star pass rusher within the wake of failed extension talks. Naturally, Dallas didn’t wish to deal Parsons to a division rival, and the club ultimately shipped Parsons to the Packers. The Cowboys also took added measures to make sure Parsons wouldn’t find yourself in Philadelphia anytime soon.
In keeping with ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Packers-Cowboys swap features a poison-pill provision that requires Green Bay to give up its 2028 first-round pick to Dallas if the Packers trade Parsons to a different club within the NFC East. Likewise, the Cowboys will owe the Packers a 2028 first-rounder in the event that they should trade defensive tackle Kenny Clark – who was sent to Dallas as a part of the Parsons package – to a different team within the NFC North.
While the Parsons component of the poison-pill condition technically applies to any NFC East team, Schefter’s sources say the Cowboys’ real concern was Philadelphia. Along with the Eagles’ status as reigning Super Bowl champions and the proven fact that they give the impression of being to be a championship contender for the foreseeable future, Parsons is a Harrisburg (Pa.) native and Penn State product who entertained dreams of playing for the Birds.
Then again, the condition expires at the top of the 2026 season, and Parsons’ childhood fantasies notwithstanding, the record-setting contract he signed with the Packers keeps him under club control through 2029. Even when Green Bay were inclined to trade him before the expiration of the condition – which is very unlikely – the accompanying dead money charge would complicate those efforts.
Moreover, if the Packers and Eagles were adamant about completing a Parsons trade before the top of the 2026 slate, they still could. Philadelphia simply would should include enough trade compensation to make up for the lack of Green Bay’s 2028 first-rounder.
Schefter and Jason Wilde of Channel3000.com acknowledge the percentages of the poison pill coming into play are slim, though it does add yet one more element to one of the crucial stunning trades in recent memory. The availability only recently got here to light when other clubs, in preparation for last week’s trade deadline, reviewed the NFL’s database that tracks each team’s draft picks and realized the Cowboys and Packers have conditions attached to their 2028 first-rounders.
Many fans will do not forget that the Packers have been involved in high-profile poison-pill agreements before. When Green Bay traded quarterback Brett Favre to the Jets in 2008, a part of the deal was that Gang Green would owe the Pack three first-rounders in the event that they were to flip Favre to an NFC North outfit.