Commanders Linked To Disgruntled Division Rival In Potential Blockbuster Deal

The Washington Commanders are arguably the Dallas Cowboys‘ biggest rivals, which makes a blockbuster trade between the NFC East rivals nearly impossible.

Yet, trade requests make strange bedfellows, and NFL.com writer Eric Edholm linked the Commanders to a potential deal for superstar EDGE Micah Parsons.

Parsons sent shockwaves around the NFL on Friday by requesting a trade amid a contract dispute with the Cowboys. The fifth-year EDGE rusher, who is a two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year runner-up, had 12 sacks and two forced fumbles in just 13 games a year ago.

Why Are The Commanders Linked To Micah Parsons?

We’ll qualify this by saying any deal involving the Cowboys and Commanders is extremely unlikely. But the tie between Parsons and Dan Quinn opens the door a crack — especially with NFL stars lining up to request trades specifically to play in Washington.

“Dan’s my guy,” Parsons said right before Quinn left the role of Cowboys defensive coordinator to become the Commanders head coach. “If he do leave me, it’s always love. He might take me with him, you never know.”

Quinn had a huge impact on Parsons’ ascent in his three seasons as defensive coordinator.

“Parsons and Quinn have a terrific relationship, with the latter overseeing the former in Dallas for three highly productive seasons before Quinn took the head-coaching job in Washington,” Edholm wrote. “The Cowboys had a top-10 scoring defense all three seasons they were together, and Parsons became a star under Quinn’s watch.”

Plus, the Commanders have a disgruntled player of their own they could dangle, which would make a Parsons-to-Washington trade potentially even more of a blockbuster.

“The Commanders have a disgruntled Terry McLaurin to offer as part of any theoretical deal,” Edholm wrote.

Can The Commanders Land Micah Parsons?

For the record, the teams have made trades before. But any deals are typically confined to NFL Draft weekend.

Plus, as Edholm explained, Quinn’s presence might make the teams less-likely to deal, especially given football czar Jerry Jones’ ego.

“The odds of the Cowboys trading a generational defensive talent to an ascending team within the division, with Parsons hypothetically rejoining former Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, feel even lower than the chances of Parsons getting traded at all,” Edholm said.

But the deal makes sense for Washington, and it should do whatever it takes to go get Parsons, even though the chances of consummating the deal is unlikely.

“It’s almost certainly not happening,” Edholm wrote. “But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t make major sense for the Commanders, who were aggressive this offseason but did not add a true, game-changing defender.”

Washington has salary-cap space, since it is operating on second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels’ rookie contract. But any team that acquires Parsons will also need to give him a market-setting contract, and Daniels will be due one of those too in about two years.

Plus, the other hang up is the Commanders’ lack of draft capital to float, outside of McLaurin.

“The problem is that they lack second- and fourth-round picks next year, via the Laremy Tunsil deal,” Edholm wrote. “Consider this one the ultimate longshot.”