Sep 28, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons (1) looks to rush the line during the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images Jerome Miron
The Dallas Cowboys included a clause in their trade of Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers to prevent his new employer from flipping him to the Eagles.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Cowboys added a so-called "poison pill" to the August trade in an attempt to make sure that the do-it-all defender — who is from central Pennsylvania and played collegiately at Penn State — didn't wind up being traded to the Eagles.
The previously unreported condition states that if the Packers decide to trade Parsons to a team in the NFC East -- the Eagles tried to trade for him in the summer before being rebuffed -- then Green Bay would owe Dallas its 2028 first-round draft pick, sources involved in the trade told ESPN.
League sources said these poison pill conditions clearly were put into place to block Parsons from winding up in Philadelphia, not far from where he grew up and one day wanted to play. The poison pill conditions apply to this season and 2026, according to sources, meaning the Packers don't have a clear path to trade Parsons to another NFC East team until 2027 at the earliest.
It is true that the Packers also added a poison pill when they traded Brett Favre to the New York Jets in August of 2008 to prevent him being dealt to the division-rival Minnesota Vikings.
Favre did wind up playing for the Vikings in 2009 and 2010, but only after the Jets released him in April of 2009, at a time where he was retired. Favre, though, was 39. Parsons is 26. Unless there's some unforeseen off-the-field issue, there's no way the Packers would release Parsons during the term of the poison pill.
The 6-2 Eagles will face Parsons and the 5-2-1 Packers at Lambeau Field on Monday Night Football to wrap up the league's Week 10 slate. The Packers traded two first-round picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark to the Cowboys for Parsons, while giving him a four-year/$186 million deal with just over $136 million guaranteed on the way in the door. Across his first eight games with the Packers, Parsons has six-and-a-half sacks, 14 quarterback hits and seven tackles for a loss.
