The Dallas Cowboys’ stunning decision to trade star pass rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for Kenny Clark and two first-round picks in the 2025 NFL Draft will be Jerry Jones’ way to try and land two Pro Bowl players who could team up to replace No. 11 and his dominant style of play.

Based on how poorly Dallas has drafted on that side of the ball outside of Parsons, anyone expecting the Cowboys to turn what would likely be a pick in the late 20s of the Draft into a Parsons-level talent is simply being delusional.

Going back to the 2006 season, which is right after the Cowboys used a first-round pick on Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware, Dallas has drafted just one defensive player who has made multiple Pro Bowls. That player? The one and only Micah Parsons.

Of the nine defensive players Dallas has picked in the first round during that span, only pass rusher Anthony Spencer and linebacker Leighton Vander Esch would play longer than five seasons in Dallas. The only drafted defensive players since Ware that has moved the needle have been Vander Esch (who fell apart physically) and Parsons.

Cowboys drafting shows they won’t be replacing Micah Parsons anytime soon

Of the eight non-Parsons defensive players picked in the first round by Dallas since 2006, there have been two solid performers beset by injuries (Vander Esch, DB Byron Jones), two more thoroughly average players (Spencer, CB Mike Jenkins), and three unequivocal busts (LB Bobby Carpenter, CB Morris Claiborne, EDGE Taco Charlton). Defensive tackle Mazi Smith is running out of road as well.

If you combined the talents of all of those players together in a Voltron-esque fashion, it still likely wouldn’t be enough to match what Parsons brings to the table. It appears as though Jones is going to learn this trruth the hard way.

With Green Bay already standing out as the youngest team in the league and in possession of one of the finest defenses in the NFC prior to the Parsons trade, there’s a very high likelihood that Dallas may have inadvertently made a Super Bowl favorite out of the Packers.

It may be decades before the Cowboys find a homegrown player who is as dominant as Parsons on the defensive line. Clark and a few late first-round picks are by no means adequate compensation for a player who singlehandedly turns a team from good to great.