GREEN BAY - One day after submitting his initial roster for the 2025 season, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst was asked mostly about a player who wasn't on the list of 53 names.
It's far from certain that player will ever wear a block G on his helmet. Because the Dallas Cowboys do not need to trade Micah Parsons. That didn't prevent the four-time All-Pro from being the most-discussed player at the end of Packers training camp.
"I can't talk about any players on any other teams," Gutekunst said. "But I think every opportunity that's out there, if they can help the Packers, we're going to take a long look at. If that opportunity makes sense to us, we'll do it. If it doesn't, then we won't."
The NFL's rumor mill has consistently linked the Packers and Parsons since negotiations for a contract extension broke down with the Cowboys midway through August. The Packers are a natural fit for Parsons given their need for elite pass rush talent, although the Cowboys surely would prefer to ship their best player to a team outside the NFC. Of course, that's if the Cowboys are ever willing to trade Parsons.
All reports out of Dallas have indicated owner Jerry Jones is reluctant.
Such a trade would be reminiscent of when the Cowboys sent running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings in 1989. That deal netted three first- and three second-round picks for the Cowboys, forming the foundation for their 1990s dynasty. Whether the Cowboys could match that haul for Parsons is uncertain, but one of the NFL's best players -- let alone pass rushers -- would require a massive return.
There also would be the requisite of signing Parsons to likely a record deal for an NFL defender. The price tag that would be a benchmark for any team is $41 million, thanks to the three-year, $123 million extension Pittsburgh Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt signed in July.
"Obviously there's so many different factors in it," Gutekunst said of making a potential impact trade. "Who the player is. Medical. Certainly, cap-wise. But, yeah, I think you have to look at anything. Any opportunity to help your football team, you have to look at and discuss as a group. We do that all the time. It's almost daily. I think what someone might consider a bold move, someone else might not. We signed a practice squad guy today. I might consider that a bold move. Somebody else might not.
"I think every opportunity that's out there to help your football team, we've always taken a look at, try to see how it affects us right now, how it affects us in the future, and make the best decision we can. Sometimes we've been right. Sometimes we've been wrong. Sometimes we've taken risks that have really worked out for us. Sometimes it didn't. Sometimes we didn't take risks, and we looked back and wished we would've. Sometimes, as Ted (Thompson) used to say, 'God helps those that can't help themselves a little bit.' Sometimes the best deals you make are the ones you don't. So I think you weigh everything, and you weigh what is in the moment, and what's in the future as well."
The last known time Gutekunst contemplated an impact trade immediately before the season was in his first year as GM in 2018. Ultimately, the Chicago Bears acquired Khalil Mack, a player the Packers coveted. The momentum from that deal, not to mention Mack's significant production, catapulted the Bears to a 12-4 record and the NFC North title. It's the last time the Bears had a winning season and their only year with double-digit victories in the past decade.
There's no guarantee history could repeat itself, that the Cowboys might make Parsons available, or even that Gutekunst would pursue Parsons if he were. But Gutekunst surely knows what adding a player of Parsons' caliber would mean to his roster.
"Players make impacts," Gutekunst said. "There's no doubt. You win or lose games because of players, right? These are the guys to do it. So certainly players make impacts. I am not a huge believer that one player -- you're never one player away. I've just never believed that, but good players make impacts. So anytime there's players of that caliber you can acquire, you're trying to.
"This is the ultimate team game. I've always believed that. Some of the best teams we've ever seen didn't have a ton of stars on it, right? It's really about how those units operate together. You can't win without good players, but they've got to work together. It doesn't matter how many good players you have, if they're not working together, it won't matter."