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The blockbuster trade sending star edge rusher Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys to the Green Bay Packers took the entire NFL by surprise, but perhaps nobody was as dumbfounded by the shocking move as Michael Irvin. Mere minutes before reports of the trade surfaced, Irvin "guaranteed" in a TV appearance that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would not ship his three-time All-Pro defender off to another team.

Irvin did not have kind words for Jones after the groundbreaking trade went final. In two separate uploads to his YouTube channel totaling more than a half hour in length, the Hall of Fame wide receiver and three-time Super Bowl champion ripped the Cowboys' front office for making a trade that could be devastating to the team's short-term and long-term defensive outlooks.

"I know he loved Micah Parsons," Irvin said of Jones. "So in order for us to be right here, something had to go down that hurt Jerry personally to make this crazy, dumb move. … This is a gamble The Gambler should not have taken."

That was a change of tune for Irvin, whose appearance on ESPN aired immediately before Adam Schefter reported the trade.

"There's no way they're allowing Micah Parsons to go anywhere," Irvin said on "NFL Live." "All of this is part of the negotiations. … I guarantee Micah Parsons is not going anywhere. Jerry's not that crazy. This is all what we call just negotiation stuff."

The trade brought to an end a standoff between Parsons and the Cowboys that had been ongoing for years. Parsons said this offseason that he and his agent had been in search of a long-term extension since 2023, but talks with Jones soured throughout the process. Things reached a head on Aug. 1 when Parsons requested a trade amid the stalled negotiations.

Even with the trade request, though, it was a surprise to the football world that Dallas would actually move on from one of the most disruptive defensive players in the league. Parsons was a centerpiece of the Cowboys franchise who has never missed a Pro Bowl and who racked up at least 12 sacks in each of his first four years in the NFL. To ship that kind of talent out of town rather than to compromise in negotiations evoked the same kind of stunned response that another Dallas franchise, the NBA's Mavericks, received earlier this year when they traded superstar guard Luka Dončić.

Jones' approach to the negotiations process was widely scrutinized. Fans showered him in "Pay Micah" chants during training camp, and Irvin is not the only notable figure to speak out against his questionable moves. In the end, the Packers were more willing to spend on the pass rusher. As part of the trade, they signed him to a four-year, $188 million mega-contract with $120 million guaranteed. Parsons, in turn, is now the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.