The Dallas Cowboys have been a punching bag for NFL fans and media alike for the last decade-plus. Since their heydays in the 1990s, the team has yet to reach those heights, and with the bravado of owner Jerry Jones, their fate has become borderline comical.
But, when one Dallas reporter compared the team’s midseason trade for Jonathan Mingo to the Washington Commanders acquiring Deebo Samuel, Micah Parsons was enraged. Replying directly to the tweet, he expressed his shock at people comparing the two deals.
Micah Parsons Angry at Jonathan Mingo – Deebo Samuel Comparison
Last season, the Cowboys got off to a tepid start and that was even before Dak Prescott went down for the year with an injury. After that, their offense cratered, and the team couldn’t recover at all.
However, before losing Prescott for the second half of the 2024 season, the team decided to make a trade to their wide receiver room by bringing in Jonathan Mingo from the Carolina Panthers. In exchange, Dallas had to give up a 2025 fourth-round pick and received a seventh-rounder in return, alongside Mingo.
But RJ Ochoa of “Blogging The Boys” had a problem with that package, especially after seeing the Commanders acquire Deebo Samuel for only a fifth-round pick. Parsons, on the other hand, believed it was an apples-to-oranges situation.
“Washington picked up almost 22 million on Deebo, contract this year! This legit doesn’t correlate at all!” Parsons wrote when Ochoa said, “The Dallas Cowboys gave up a fourth-round pick for Jonathan Mingo. The Washington Commanders gave up a fifth-round pick for Deebo Samuel.”
Washington picked up almost 22 million on Deebo ,contract this year! This legit doesn’t correlate at all! https://t.co/9VkgO2PJcJ
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) March 2, 2025
At the time of the trade, Mingo was coming off a 418-yard rookie season with Bryce Young as his quarterback. He had a rough start to 2024, tallying just 121 yards in nine games with Carolina, but their quarterback room hadn’t stabilized till then.
On the other hand, the Commanders are getting a former Pro Bowler in Samuel. In 2021, he had 1,405 receiving yards and 365 rushing yards. But his numbers have continued to decline over the past three seasons.
Still, his 670 receiving yards are far ahead of the numbers Mingo had in his combined Carolina and Dallas tenure last season. But that’s where Parsons’ point of view comes into play.
At nearly $22 million, Samuel is one of the more expensive receiving options in the league and is going to take away significant cap space from a Washington team that needs more defense.
On the other hand, Mingo has a four-year, $8 million contract, which will cost the Cowboys close to just $3.5 million over the next two seasons combined. That difference in production is more than made up for by the difference in their respective salaries.
While comparing the two one-to-one is nearly impossible, the Commanders’ move doesn’t dictate the efficacy of Dallas’ trade.