No, the Los Angeles Rams will not trade for Micah Parsons and Aaron Donald won’t come out of retirement to play with him this season. It’s a fun idea to generate clicks though, courtesy of Donald himself.
Donald did make an Instagram comment on Tuesday teasing that he might have to return to football if the Rams trade for Parsons, who is currently in a contract standoff with the Dallas Cowboys, but let’s be adults about this and admit it is all for laughs. Even if Donald would seriously consider returning to the NFL to play with Parsons in L.A., that would require the Cowboys to first trade him to the Rams.
That is also not going to happen.
Parsons joined in the fun by replying to AD by implying that he was down for it and tagging his agents, but again this is not even a player decision. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones does not intend to trade Parsons, which means that a team would have to overpay by a considerable margin to convince him to do it anyway. Les Snead has made a lot of wild moves in his past, but now is probably not the time to trade the farm for a pass rusher looking to be paid the largest contract for a non-QB in NFL history.
Believing this is anything other than a bored retired player and a perpetually online human being is childish fan fiction.
With T.J. Watt signing a contract this offseason that pays him $41 million per season and $108 million fully guaranteed, Parsons is undoubtedly looking for bigger numbers on both accounts given that he is almost five years younger and maybe playing at a higher level very recently. Typically edge rushers of his level do not change teams this early over a contract dispute, but we did see it happen to Khalil Mack in 2018.
The Raiders traded Mack to the Bears for two first round picks and more. No NFL player has been traded for a first round pick since 2022, but Parsons would clearly not be moved by Dallas for anything less than two of them.
The Rams do have two first round picks in 2026, but they have something else that’s even more important and a good reason not to trade for Parsons: Jared Verse.
Yes, putting Verse opposite of Parsons would be the NFL’s best tandem, most likely, but is it necessary? The Rams have Verse and he’s very cheap and he’s two years younger than Parsons. In two years, L.A. may have to pay Verse a $40 million salary of his own, making it possible that trading for Parsons now means potentially trading Verse in 2027. Would the Rams have won a Super Bowl by then and made it worth it, similar to getting Matthew Stafford?
Anything is possible. But the risk to trade for Parsons because you think he’s going to help you win the next Super Bowl carries a huge downside if he doesn’t:
- Giving up 2 first round picks and MORE
- Potentially losing out chance to draft a first round QB in 2026
- Losing cap space and cash
Does paying Parsons a record-breaking contract in 2025 make it harder to do the same for Puka Nacua in 2026? What about Kobie Turner, Byron Young, and Steve Avila? And the next year it could be Verse and Braden Fiske.
Is this really necessary? If the Rams trade for Parsons and then find out shortly thereafter that Stafford is going to miss an extended period of time, the team won’t compete for a Super Bowl with or without Parsons. What will it have all been for? The Rams won’t be any different than the Cowboys team that Parsons would be leaving…
And Micah Parsons won’t be leaving the Cowboys.
No matter how many trades he requests, history strongly suggests that this is all for show. These are common negotiating tactics that big name players use every offseason and the end results is almost always a contract extension. Remember Lamar Jackson’s trade request? It was all for show. A ploy to show the Ravens that he wasn’t afraid to tell the public that he wanted to go to the team that wanted him the most.
The Cowboys are the team that wants Parsons the most and more importantly, they are the team that holds 100% of the leverage for his rights. If Parsons doesn’t play, the Cowboys still hold his rights. If Parsons plays, the Cowboys hold his rights in 2026 too and they can franchise tag him in 2027, 2028, and 2029.
There is no way for Parsons to get out of the Cowboys and the only way Jerry Jones will trade him is if another overpays. Not two first round picks, but maybe three first round picks. A deal that no team, not even the Rams, is willing to do.
And for whatever it’s worth, Donald said he would need to get into “football shape” first. Based on photos from camp, he’s already there.
