OXNARD, Calif. -- As the blockbuster trade of Micah Parsons nears its one-year anniversary, Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he cannot be happier with how it worked out for his team.
The Cowboys traded Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and first-round picks in 2026 and 2027. The Cowboys then used the 2027 first-rounder (plus their own second-round pick in 2026) to acquire defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets at last year's trade deadline. With the 2026 first-rounder, the Cowboys added pass rusher Malachi Lawrence with the No. 23 pick in April's draft.
"Even though Micah's an outstanding talent [that] anybody would like to have, the bottom line is that I like what the result of the trade has ended up as I stand here today," Jones said Thursday.
"It's like going to Las Vegas with some extra money in your pocket or going out there with the baby's new pair of shoes and formula money in your pocket. You can't be as good a crapshooter as you are when you've got the baby's new pair of shoes throwing out there with it." Jerry Jones on being more aggressive with draft capital post-trades
Jones likened the deal to the 1989 trade of running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings that helped build the Cowboys' dynasty of the 1990s, when they won three Super Bowls.
"You could say those picks got us key players, but the main thing that the Herschel Walker trade did, it caused me to be more aggressive and caused us to, if you will, take more risk because we had more picks," Jones said.
"It's like going to Las Vegas with some extra money in your pocket or going out there with the baby's new pair of shoes and formula money in your pocket. You can't be as good a crapshooter as you are when you've got the baby's new pair of shoes throwing out there with it.
"So, in a way," he added, "this actually created a mental part to us and to my role in it with me, to step out and make the moves and take, if you will, risks that are involved to be where we are today with a complete makeover of the defense."
Jones called Parsons a "great player," noting his ability enabled the Cowboys to make such a dramatic deal with Green Bay.
"Otherwise, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to make that kind of trade. That's why it worked," Jones said. "But the fact that we revamped our defense, that was an instigator toward that attitude: 'Let's come in here and change this up, let's get rush from the interior, let's be stronger on the run in the interior with an emphasis on those guys in the middle.' That's not an accident. That that's what you see out there from the inside."
To Jones, the trade also gave the Cowboys the cap space to make moves this offseason, such as signing safety Jalen Thompson, trading for Rashan Gary and reaching the three-year, $105.9 million extension Williams signed Wednesday.
The Cowboys have six players now making $20 million or more per season -- Williams, Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Tyler Smith and DaRon Bland.
"Where Quentin is, you can't do that but six, seven times under our rules with the salary cap," Jones said. "So, boy, you want to be very judicious, and you want that to go to people who are really solid, both physically and talented as a player, but also really solid people. I don't know that he's got a peer and he's playing alongside guys like Dak.
"The minute we had a chance to trade for him, we traded for him."
The feeling with Williams was mutual.
"I knew that the moment they traded for me, I wanted to be here for the rest of my career," Williams said.
Entering his seventh season, Williams has yet to make the playoffs in his career. He believes his chances with the Cowboys are better than he has had to date.
"Just because you got guys with the same mindset from top down," Williams said. "You got a guy like Jerry Jones, he's a strong believer in winning and winning championships. You got guys like Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb. You got the coaching staff. Everybody has the same mindset when it come down to getting better and winning and doing everything we can possibly do to win. Honestly, the last time I kind of had that feeling was at Bama where everybody coming in, iron sharpens iron, wanting to win football games, wanting to win championships, wanting to win playoff games and wanting to get better every single day.
"Being a part of the organization or a team like that with the same mindset that I have is unbelievable. So I'm super excited to be here."