Dallas Cowboys predicted to trade Micah Parsons to Arizona Cardinals for massive haul

The Arizona Cardinals are entering a pivotal season with Jonathan Gannon as the team’s head coach. 

The defensive-minded HC — who led the Philadelphia Eagles defense before taking the Cardinals head job two years ago — needs to show ownership the organization is continuing to trend upward. 

In his first season, Gannon was thrown into the fire and inherited a lower-tier roster while dealing with star QB Kyler Murray out more than half of the year as he rehabbed a knee injury from 2022. The result wasn’t pretty as the Arizona Cardinals finished the 2023 season with just a (4-13) overall record. 

Last year was a massive improvement for Gannon and the Cardinals. While Arizona blew a shot at the playoffs and couldn’t string together wins in the most critical time of the year, the Cardinals finished the year with an (8-9) record. 

Even more importantly, Murray finally looked like himself again as the team’s franchise QB. The Cardinals are only going to go as far as Murray takes them and he finished last season with 3,851 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while adding another 572 yards and five touchdowns with his legs. 

The Arizona brass has built a strong foundation around Murray on the offensive side of the ball with James Conner in the backfield, Trey McBride emerging as one of the top tight ends in the NFL and Marvin Harrison Jr. heading into his second season with the potential to be a dominant No. 1 WR. 

But if the Cardinals are going to make a deep playoff run in 2025, they are going to have to play better on defense, which is Gannon’s specialty. Last season, Arizona finished with the No. 21 total defense, giving up 342.5 yards per game. They were much better against the pass than the run, finishing No. 14 in the NFL in passing defense allowing just 216 yards through the air per game. 

If the Arizona Cardinals can propel themselves into becoming a top 10 overall defense in 2025, they should have a chance to shock casual NFL fans and make a playoff run. 

In one blockbuster prediction from Bleacher Report, the Cardinals are named as a landing spot for Dallas Cowboys star pass rusher Micah Parsons, who recently requested a trade. 

Kristopher Knox of BR has the Cardinals sending a 2026 1st-round pick, 2026 2nd-round pick, 2027 1st-round pick, 2026 3rd-round pick, and edge rusher Zaven Collins to the Cowboys in exchange for Parsons: 

McLaurin became arguably the biggest trade target on Thursday when his request became public. Less than a day later, Dallas Cowboys pass-rusher Micah Parsons supplanted McLaurin with his own trade request. 

Parsons broke the news himself on social media. 

I examined five teams and five hypothetical trades for Parsons shortly after his request was made. At the time, I didn't include the Arizona Cardinals, who have taken multiple steps to improve their pass-rush this offseason. 

The Cardinals signed both Josh Sweat and Calais Campbell before using the 16th overall pick on  Walter Nolen III. 

However, there are a few reasons why Arizona would be wise to make a run at Parsons. For one, Nolen is dealing with a calf injury and may not be ready for Week 1. Secondly, head coach Jonathan Gannon is entering his third season with a 12-22 record and really needs to start racking up some wins. 

Lastly, while Campbell remains productive, he'll turn 39 in September and isn't a long-term answer on the edge. 

Now, Parsons is likely to demand a contract extension worth more than the $41 million-per-year deal T.J. Watt recently signed. That could be tricky with Sweat making $19.1 million annually. 

With $37.9 million in cap space available, though, the Cardinals could probably make it work. They could offload promising-but-inconsistent pass-rusher Zaven Collins to give Dallas back some depth while saving $4.4 million in additional cap space.