It started with the NFL-wide shock, was followed by Jerry Jones’ 11-minute response to one question and has led to speculation with new reports and rumors continuing to surface.

The Dallas Cowboys’ decision to trade star pass-rusher Micah Parsons has given NFL fans plenty to talk about ahead of the 2025 regular-season opener.

However, several breakdowns of the trade that sent the 26-year-old star from the Cowboys to the Green Bay Packers have featured interesting bullet points.

While there’s no clear-cut answer as to why the Cowboys opted to trade one of the NFL’s most elite pass-rushers, it’s become more and more clear that there were likely several factors.

As Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer and two other NFL insiders reported, issues with Cowboys teammates may have been among them.

Micah Parsons’ Podcast Reportedly Caused Issues, Some Players Saw Him as ‘Egotistical and Self-Centered’ It’s obviously unknown how widespread any potential or reported issues Cowboys players may have had with Parsons were.

That’s anyone’s guess, unless it comes from someone in the locker room (it won’t).

However, Breer compared Parsons’ contract standoff with the team to the situations in 2024 with CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott, and 2023 with Zack Martin-once training camp got underway, contract talks took a backseat.

Micah Parsons #11, formerly of the Dallas Cowboys, lies on a training table during the second half of the NFL Preseason 2025 game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Sam Hodde/Getty Images Sam Hodde/Getty Images The longtime NFL insider then pointed out that while that trio of players “are/were very popular in the locker room,” the same doesn’t stand true for Parsons.

“That’s not the case with Parsons, who has rankled teammates in different ways, seen by some as egotistical and self-centered. His podcast has created issues, too, that go all the way up to quarterback Dak Prescott,” Breer reported.

The Bleacher Report podcast had become a recurring topic of discussion at various times during recent seasons. The Edge with Micah Parsons featured the former Cowboys star speaking openly throughout the season while hosting various guests, including several high-profile players.

While Breer’s report is noteworthy, he was not the only one to report issues looming behind closed doors that may have factored into Parsons being traded to Green Bay.

Additional NFL Insiders Report Tension Between Cowboys Locker Room and Parsons Among the other reports that surfaced after the Cowboys opted to move on from Parsons was NFL Network insider Jane Slater.

During a segment on Good Morning Football, Slater revealed information sources had told her about the locker room situation.

“As one former coach explained, there were some who didn’t think [Parsons] loved football,” Slater reported. “

He was easily distracted, floating in and out of meeting rooms, and players had grown weary of him saying one thing in front of cameras and doing another.

Most teams have different rules for their players, but all of this contributed to the direction that was ultimately taken late Friday.”

The reports from both Breer and Slater signal some level of behind-the-scenes tension, and Cowboys insider Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram also highlighted a “fractured relationship with the team that extended beyond the front office.”

“From a run-in with DeMarcus Lawrence that blew up after the season last year, to lying on the training table with his eyes closed in the middle of a preseason game, to claiming he had back tightness to potentially prevent himself from playing in Week 1 of the season, the signs were always there of a fractured relationship with the team that extended beyond the front office,”

Harris wrote. Of course, all things still likely came down to a combination of the financial side of things, paired with any behind-the-scenes issues that were apparently irreparable.

It’s not like Jerry Jones to trade away star players, and this move was easily his most shocking decision in recent memory.