PTI - Cowboys Chaos: Micah Parsons Demands Trade

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

Frank Isola and Mina Kimes discuss Micah Parsons' trade request from the Cowboys, NFL preseason and Mikal Bridges' contract extension with the Knicks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Frank Isola, and I feel really lucky to co-host today's PTI with a close friend. I'm many times. Close?

Come on. I didn't have to do that to me. If I was glad. I guess if I were close, I'd be one of your podcast guests. You've had about 1,500. I've yet to make it. Maybe when I get to episode 3,000, you'll get the call up. You know, I hope you're ready for today.

We're going to be doing a lot of football right up your alley. It's August. Of course, it's football. That's what we do on this show. Welcome to PTI. Mike and Tony are off on a spa weekend, so I'm joined by my great friend from NFL Live and the Mina Kimes show featuring Lenny. Everyone, Mina Kimes. That's her podcast audience. All right, let's start today with Micah Parsons, winding out of Dallas. The frustrated past Russia wants a new deal, but says the team won't talk to his agent. Parsons posted a carefully crafted tone to social media today. ending with quote, I no longer want to play it for the Dallas Cowboys. My trade request has been submitted to Stephen Jones personally.

So, Mina, how serious does this sound to you? I think it is seriously stupid. This is a no-brainer. This deal should have been done months ago. Michael Parsons is 26 years old. He is the best defensive player in the Cowboys. He is one of the best defensive players in the entire NFL. Over the last two years, Frank, Michael Parsons ranks,

first in pressure rate, first in pass-fresh win, first in double-team rate. You don't trade players like that. You sign them to deals early, like the Cowboys rival in their own division routinely does in Philadelphia. And I feel like so often we just write this off as Jerry Jones doing Jerry Jones things. But those things are bad for the franchise. And if I'm a Cowboys fan, I'm immensely frustrated. It's gotten to this point. Well, don't you feel like, first of all, in the NFL, at this time of year, it's the practices.

in the brutally hot weather, right? You get a couple of practice fights, and then the big stars hold out. And this, to me, part of it is leverage because you're no longer going to hold out and not show up, so you hold in, as they like to call it. And when you read that message that he had on X, it was long.

Clearly, his agent went over to make sure, you know, refer to Jerry Jones, not as juror, but Mr. Jones. I thought they handled it really well. He's going to get paid. If this was August 31st, I would say, I'm a little concerned. The same thing happened last year with Dak Prescott.

Micah Parsons is going to be the highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL until the next big defensive star becomes the highest paid player who's not a quarterback in the NFL. I get it. It's the Cowboys. I also think to some degree Jerry Jones likes this. It's the Cowboys. They're always in the news cycle, not necessarily on this show, but they're in the news cycle a lot. And this time, guess what?

He gets to respond to this. It's right up his alley. think? It is, but it's so counterproductive. You talked about DAC. They took too long for C.D. Lamb. They gave Ezekiel Elliott that giant deal in the past. And honestly, the longer they wait, the more leverage the players have. Yes, Michael Parsons isn't actually going to skip games. I doubt that. But the longer the Dallas Cowboys wait to do any of these deals, typically the price goes up. Typically, the deals tend to be more player-friendly. That's how you get deals like Di Prescott's deal, which they certainly can't get out of.

I love the way that Michael Parsons, on X, where he tells you that he sat down with Jerry Jones, he thought they were having a conversation about leadership, then Jerry Jones turned it to start talking about money, and then, of course, when Michael Parsons' agent finds out, he's at, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, don't be talking about money with my client without me there, and this is where everything, but I think you're 100% right. He's not going to get true. You don't trade a player like this. My only thing to you would be, why mess with a generational talent like this, right?

There's no logic to it. I mean, it's befuddling, frankly. It is. It really is. All right, we have more issues going on in the NFL. So let's move to Washington wide receiver, Terry McLaren, who's also wanting out. The two-time pro bowler has requested a trade after negotiations with the franchise on a new deal stalled out. McLaren held out for the first four days of training camp, but reported Sunday to avoid further fines.

So Mina, should the commanders trade their wide receiver? No, but this one is a little bit trickier than the Micah Parsons contract, in my opinion. So on one hand, Terry McLaurin, you know, model player suffered through terrible quarterback play, was incredibly productive last year and plays a role that really is not very deep for the Washington commanders on their roster. They don't have anyone quite like him. He is a true boundary X receiver who wins at all three levels. He had 13 touchdowns last season.

No other Washington receiver had more than two for this team last year. On the other hand, it has been reported that he wants to make more than D.K. Metcalf. There are only three receivers who make more than D.K. Mecalfe, Justin Jefferson, Jemar Chase, and C.D. Lamb. They are all in their mid-20s, and they are all better than Terry McClore. So while I don't think Washington is going to trade him because there's so much importance in having him this year, I do think they are justifiably hesitant about paying him that kind of. of money. Yeah. So McLoran, you know, when his extension begins, he's going to be 31 years old. So you think about Tyree Kill, got his extension. He was 30. Mike Evans, 31. I would suggest to you

they're better than McLaren, not that he's a terrific player, absolutely, but also think about this. Tyree Kill, once upon a time, had Patrick Mahomes throwing the ball. Evans, when he won the Super Bowl, had Tom Brady. I think part of the negotiations, if I'm a wide receiver and I'm on the commanders, at some point, I need my quarterback behind the scenes to kind of chime in. Because it looks like they have from everything that we see, this guy's the real deal. He's got the entire package. He has some of those same qualities as Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes had when they were both younger players. So that's when you have that type of chemistry with a terrific quarterback like that, you don't want to upset the apple cart too much.

So I would be careful if I was Washington, right? Yeah, I think they would run the risk of stunting Jaden Daniels development, but perhaps more likely than that. Risking this season. This is a team that went deep into the playoffs last year. The way they approached this offseason, Frank, was I wouldn't say they went all in, but they really betted heavily on their ability to go deep again this year. Trading for Laramie Tunsell, Debo Samuel, last year trading for Marshawn Latimore. If you take Terry McLaurin out of this team, it is not. not a very good group of skill players.

And you start to worry because this offense is going to be leaned on heavily to carry a defense that lags behind. Yeah. You mentioned the 13 touchdowns. Daniels threw 12 of those to McLaurin. He's also gone over 1,000 yards, five straight seasons. But again, I always feel this way about wide receivers. And so many of these guys are extremely talented.

For when I mentioned Hill and I mentioned Evans, a lot of times a quarterback makes the receiver. And I think I get a feeling no matter who you throw out there with Washington, I think that quarterback is so good, he's going to make the receivers better as opposed to the other way around. Sound like the commanders. All right, preseason football officially began last night. Chargers beat the Lions Handley in a game that featured the first use of the new virtual first-out measurement system. Frank, what, if anything, was worth noting in last night's game? All right, so a couple of things. And Trey Lance, good for him. He played well. But we're going to overreact to week one of the NFL season, and we shouldn't. So I can't overreact.

too much the way Tray Lance played last night against backups, but good for him. He played well. And of course, Dan Campbell had to get cute, even on the opening kickoff. He has his lineback and return the kickoff fumbles, and they end up turning the ball over five times. But the biggest thing to come out of this was the Hawkeye, which unfortunately, it's not going to mark the spot where you think the ball should be. So for all the Buffalo Bill fans and Josh Allen, who still feel like, and I feel that same way, too, that that was a first down against the Chiefs in the NFC Championship game, Maybe at one point we'll get to that. The only thing, though, about the Hawkeye, and we see it in tennis, and it's actually a little bit exciting.

But we also like when the chain gang would walk out on the field, and it'd almost be that dramatic moment. If they were short of the first down, the defense is jumping up and down, the crowd gets into it. So I think the younger generation of people, you're now part of the older generation, by the way. They're going to grow up. They're not going to get that. Instead, you're going to have the Hawkeye. This is technology for you. I'm old enough to remember the index card that they folded in half.

I'm not going to lie. I actually did not love the visual presentation of the Hawkeye. I vastly preferred the performance of Trey Lance, which I am not going to skip over. I knew you were going to say that. I'm not overreacting. I know it's preseason football. I'm playing with backups, yada, yada. But he played preseason football last year, and I thought he looked considerably better in his performance,

poised in the pocket, made some great throws on the run, the touchdown off the bootleg. And it matters because he is competing to back up Justin Herbert. You may not care now. but it's week 16, maybe Justin Herbert has a minor injury, the Chargers need to win a game. You will care then. Back up quarterbacks, you do matter in football. And I also say for the true football sickos out there,

I was very impressed by the Chargers' rookie receiver, Keandre Lambert Smith, who I thought was terrific. He also could crack the starting lineup. That's a name to watch. You know, it's funny, the one thing about Trey Lance, it's like, so he played well, so you really can't dismiss it because if he was terrible, we would be focusing on that.

And there is something to be said for when you're a rookie, you show up on your first day at training camp. I would think by now he's a little bit better, and I'm sure bouncing around to a couple of teams, he's probably growing up a little bit too. He probably looks at things a little bit differently, right? He's barely played any football, and he's so young. Look, I'm not telling you that I'm still, you know,

holding shares of Trey Lance stock, but maybe a little bit, maybe a tiny chair because he was quite talented coming out of college. All right, but when you're sitting in your fancy seats at the U.S. Open, You don't like when the Hawkeye and they show the ball in the crowd, come on, you like that. I've never been to the U.S. Open, Frank. She's not telling you the truth, folks.

All right, let's take a break. But coming up, how should twin fans feel after their team trade away more than a third of its roster? And what's the word for the Knicks and Mikhail Bridges agreeing to a new four-year deal worth $150 million? What do you think? He did make a good play against, against his Celtics. You've never been to the open. Come on. One good play.

One good play. We've written millions of words in our careers, mostly mine are late on deadline. And it's time to choose a few more. What's first? Twins fans should feel blank following their team's sell-off. All right, I'm going to say that they should feel fleece for this reason. So they traded 10 of 26 players on the roster. They're five and a half games out of the final wild card spot.

With two months to go in baseball, it's not impossible. to make up that ground. So before the season, when you're selling season tickets and ticket plans, fans are thinking about August and September. Clearly the twins are no longer thinking about it. And that includes trading Carlos Correa, a terrific player. He went back to Houston. Then Yoan Duran, the closer who went to the Phillies. Good job by the Phillies getting him. But here's the issue with Minnesota. They're $400 million in debt. They've been on sale for the last nine months. They don't have a buyer yet. So I get it from this standpoint. They don't want any dead money. out there. So if you're going to have new ownership, they want to look at payroll and think,

well, you know what? It doesn't look that bad. In fact, they only have $38 million committed to next year's payroll. But if you're a fan, what are you supposed to do August and September, especially if you already paid for tickets expecting to see a pennant race? Pivot to J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings. I knew you would do that. They should feel the same way that anyone feels who's invested in an entity that's being stripped to parts for sale. Devalued, is my word. Carlos Correa wasn't traded as part of a rebuild, right? To get assets.

He was traded in a salary dump. It was for sale. That's incredibly depressing, especially for a team that was competitive not that long ago, Frank. If there is a, I guess, sunny side or upside to any of this, it makes it more likely

that they'll be able to pull off the sale because they've cleaned the books, but it's going to be a long, painful rebuild regardless of who takes over the twins. You know, you missed yesterday, show. We talked a lot about the Seattle Mariners. What did you make of the moves that they made? By the way, Cal Raleigh last night, 40-second home run. They added to Suarez. What do you think? The opposite of devalued is how Mariners fans shocked, actually, because it is so rare to see this

organization be so active at the trade line. They are truly all in this year. So you won't be watching the Seahawks in September. You'll be watching the Mariners. That's what you just said. See, I got you back to you into a corner. I can multitask. All right, what's next? The next four-year, $150 million deal with McHale Bridges is black. All right, I'm going to say doubling down, and here's the reason. They acquired McHill Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets for five first-round picks. So you have to sign McHale Bridges because you're not going to get five first-round picks. And I get it.

The front office patting themselves on the back about saving $6 million. He could have asked for $156 or the maximum he could have gotten. But there weren't a lot of teams out there. They're going to pay $150 million. McElbridge's, I don't want to sound like U.B. Brown. I love the guy from this standpoint. He plays all the time. His streak is at 556 consecutive games.

He'll guard the opposing team's point guard. He's a terrific role player, mostly a mid-range jump shooter, more than a three-point shooter. But for the New York Knicks, they invested a lot of money in O.G. Ananoby and McHill Bridges. Bridges stays healthy all the time. O'G. Anobie, that somehow could be risky. But let's face it. The Knicks also looked at the landscape in the Eastern Conference. No Tatum next year, no Tyrese Halliburton.

This is their window, and they're paying for it. I went with tolerable. I mean, I don't think either side feels particularly great about how this is going, to your point. And it feels like the Knicks had to do the deal because the amount they invested in the trade. But I won't say that Bridges did them a solid or he sacrificed that much. However, he took a little bit less, kept them under the second apron. They also retain the ability to potentially trade him, which could be coming up at some point. And then from his standpoint, he's coming off of his worst three-point shooting season since he was a rookie.

Struggled at times in defense, some of that might have to do with the previous coaching staff and how they used him. So perhaps that'll change. He did, of course, have those big moments in the playoffs. So I think this makes sense for both sides, even if it doesn't feel like, you know, a needle-moving move. You know, it's funny. You mentioned about what he did in the playoffs, because I thought during the regular season, it was a little, disappointing for him and he seemed frustrated. But you go look at what he did against Detroit in the first round. In a couple of those moments, there was, you know, the one game on the road, they're down

by like 12 or 13 in the fourth quarter. He hits a three, which gets him going. Then in the closeout game in game six, everyone talks about the Brunson shot, but right before that, McHell Bridges had a big basket. Then, of course, against Boston, he had a couple of big time defensive plays. So, you know how it works in the NBA? Baseball, to me, is a regular season sport. The NBA is all about how you perform in the playoffs and the McElbridge's credit, he did deliver in some big more. Didn't do much against Indiana, to be fair, but I thought in those first two series, he was really good. And you know he's going to get there because, as you said, the dude plays every game. The best ability is available. Yeah. So are we watching the Jets and the Giants in September of New York? Not so sure about that.

You know, I am. I don't know if together. All right, that's the final word. Let's take one last break, but still to come the Panthers. They plan to play their starters. How dare they in their first two preseason games. Does that make sense? And how does Kenny Pickett's return impact the Browns quarterback competition? What a sentence. I will watch the Browns instead of the Guardians. I could guarantee you that. I think it's all over for Cleveland baseball this year. It is an interesting preseason storyline. Yes, it is. It's a Friday happy time, everyone. Happy 70th birthday. Kirk Ferrence, Iowa's head football coach is about to start his 27 season at the school by far the longest current tenure in the Big Ten.

In fact, the second longest is just 12 by James Franklin at Penn State. Notably, Ference started his stint by going 4 and 19 over his first two seasons. That record gets coaches fire to. In fact, Ference recently said, quote, I'm not sure Coach K, that's Mike Shoshiewski, would have survived in today's world. There should be a lesson learned, but there's not going. going to be. 27 years is a long time to have leadership role in any industry, except for I guess hosting

PTI. But I would say, Ferrence, for all their lack of postseason success, has a strong case for holding onto that. The Iowa defense is always stout. He brings a high floor to that team, deservedly remains the head coach. We need to be the longest tenured fill-ins on this show. Happy anniversary to the U.S. Senior Open at Broadmoor on this day. 17 years ago, the field competed for the Colorado course with local wildlife among the interlopers, a black bear, a fox, and what appeared to be a bounding mule deer. That's a typical day in Mina's backyard. Officials considered shutting down the course but opted to play through the zoo-like atmosphere.

The championship returned to the course in 2018 and again this year when Patrick Harrington won. And while we had no bear sightings this year, it's worth noting that you can't spell Patrick Harrington without Paddington. See what we did there? Wow, I love the story. Usually the only animals you see on the course are birdies and eagles. I went back and looked this up, and the bear was actually charging at golfers at the time. They were frightened of it. So this is a serious story.

And they could run my backyard. I get deer, and we do get Fox back there every once in a while. Happy trails to the race, Jose Cabiero. Early this week, PTI featured Sir Anthony Dominguez getting traded from the Orioles to the Blue Jays in the middle of a double header against each other. Well, yesterday, the race topped that by trading Jose Caballero to the Yankees in the middle of a game they were playing. Caballero started in the game in a raised uniform and ended in those beautiful pen stripes.

The Yankees won, and afterward, Caballero said, quote, I was winning today regardless. You know what's funny? I tried to trade you for Pablo after the A block, but you're still here. Frank, so I guess I wasn't able to pull that up. How about? I like, no, go ahead. Go ahead. I like this move for the Yankees. It wasn't one of the, obviously, the bigger moves in terms of the trade deadline. But he gives them help on defense and flexibility in the infield, obviously stolen a lot of bases.

So this was a good move. I know. I feel a little badly for the Jersey kid, Anthony Volpe. He's really struggled at the plate and in the field, a lot of errors. It's a problem. But you know what? No errors today. So we're going to go right to the big finish. The Panthers, they plan. to play starters in their first two preseason games. You're surprised by that? I am not. Bryce Young did not play much in the preseason last year. Got off to a disastrous start so I can understand why the Panthers want to change it up.

Also, Patrick Mahomes plays in the preseason. It's not out of the question for quarterbacks to play. I know you like that, Frank. Absolutely. At least the first series, two series. People are paying to go to these games. The Yankees released Marcus Stroman ahead of Least Field joining the team. Rejoining the team makes sense.

Strowman's timing was not good. He got rocked yesterday. You know, he's only pitched 39 innings this year, and his ERA is 6.23. It was funny. After the game, they asked him, you're excited about the new additions. He was sound out of this is going to be great. Less than 12 hours later, he was out of a job. Kenny Pickett returned to the Brown's practice after hamstring injury sidelined him

for several days. Is that a big deal? It actually is a big deal because anybody could be the starting quarterback for the Browns, so him playing actually matters because it means he. can compete. Inter-Miamis is back on the pitch in League's Cup action tomorrow. What do you expect? I expect Messi to play really well. How about your Seattle Sounders? Seven goals in the second half against Cruz Azul. Not bad. Last one. Paul Skeen is on the mound for the Pirates tomorrow. Are you excited? Of course. He has a 1.89 ERA. His record is fixed in eight. In Seattle, we call

that Felix Hernandez. Ah, ha. I see you good. That right of time. Thanks for watching. I'm Frank Isola. And I'm Mina Kimes. PTI is off until Thursday, August 21st, and now here's SportsCenter. You know, with all that time off, maybe, just maybe you could have a podcast, and I'll explain the game of football to you. PTII.