Micah Parsons to Bears: A Game-Changer in the Making

Let’s say your potential-laden NBA franchise had the chance to acquire the 26-year-old version of Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Giannis who was coming off of back-to-back MVP wins.

The Giannis who’d earned All-NBA nods in each of the previous four seasons.

And, most importantly, the Giannis who’d just led his team to an NBA title.

If you had shot at the Greek Freak, you would, at the very least, put together a plan and send the Milwaukee Bucks braintrust an exploratory text, because in-their-prime Greek Freaks—or Air Jordans, or TB12s, or ShoTimes, or Great Ones—don’t become available, like, ever.

This is the position in which half of the current NFL finds itself.

Y’see, Dallas Cowboys generationally-talented defensive stud Micah Parsons wants out.

A Parsons Deal Will Blow Up the Fantasy World As We Know It

Any team that lands Parsons will become a fantasy darling, the kind of team whose D you won't wait until the final round to draft, the kind of D you won't dismiss as a streamer.

After all, in 2021 and 2023, the Cowboys finished the season as the top fantasy defense, thanks in no small part to Parsons' combined total of 27 sacks.

This isn't to say that if Parsons is moved, his new team's D will dominate Fantasyland—it's not like he'll make the Carolina Panthers elite or anything—but in the right spot, the needle will be moved a whole lot.

And one of those right spots will be in the Midwest.

The Windy City Can’t Blow It

Multiple outlets rank Cleveland Browns EDGE Myles Garrett as the NFL’s top defender, and that’s not unfair—dude’s a beast, hard stop.

But other pundits—like this guy—give the nod to Parsons, as the Cowboys star is the more versatile player, able to wreak havoc at two levels and on either side of the field. The fact that the Penn State product is three years younger than Garrett doesn’t hurt his cause.

When Parsons went public with his desire to leave Dallas, the interwebs exploded with mock trades, shipping Parsons to any NFL team the pundit in question believed might be willing to send Dallas a buttload of future draft picks in return, an NFL team confident they’re one player away from legit contention, an NFL team that has the gumption to pull the trigger on a move that could earn them a championship or send them spiraling into an abyss of a future.

As we inch towards the 2025 NFL regular season, it looks like one of those teams is the Chicago Bears.

The Monsters of the Midway roll into the year with expectations coming out the wazoo. They inked one of the most sought-after head coaches in the last several draft cycles (Ben Johnson), they have a second-year quarterback who’s been tabbed as generational (Caleb Williams), and they wildly improved their previously awful offensive line, positioning themselves as a player in a scary NFC North.

And this comes after a 2024 campaign that featured a mid-season head coach firing, a ten-game losing streak, and two of the lousiest offensive coordinators in the recent history of lousy offensive coordinators.

The Bears may not be one stud defender away from a Super Bowl…but they’re not not one stud defender away from the Super Bowl, so if they’re able and willing to put together a package good enough to entice Dallas’ mercurial owner/GM Jerry Jones to sign off on a Parsons deal, they 100% should.

The deal might look a little something like this:

Chicago Bears receive

• Micah Parsons (EDGE/LB)

• 2026 fourth-round draft pick

Dallas Cowboys receive

• 2026 first-round draft pick

• 2027 first-round draft pick

• 2027 third-round draft pick

• 2026 sixth-round draft pick

There are a zillion fair iterations of this deal, but this package would, at the very least, compel Jones to at least consider it.

Bears GM Ryan Poles, however, doesn’t need to think—he needs to act. And here’s how he can (and should) justify exploring a franchise-altering deal:

1) Parsons Fits Chicago’s Timeline

Sports Info Solutions tells us that an NFL defender’s prime years are between the ages of 25 and 29. As a math expert, I can tell you with complete confidence that Parsons’ 26, indeed, falls in between 25 and 29.

And for what it’s worth, one of Parsons’ primary comps, Reggie White, was productive until his age-37 season, when he racked up 16 sacks.

Only two Chicago Bears in the history of the franchise have recorded 16 or more sacks in a single season: Robert Quinn (18.5 in 2021) and Richard Dent (17.5 in 1984). So there.

2) Chicago Can (Probably) Make the Money Work

I’m a salary cap dummy—don’t scoff, there are plenty of us out there—but as per Over The Cap, the Bears currently have over $13 million worth of cap space. They also have a few veterans who are a scootch overpaid, among them Cole Kmet ($11.6 million), D’Andre Swift ($9.33 million), Cairo Santos ($4.2 million), Ryan Bates ($4 million), and Chris Williams ($3.2 million).

As noted, I’m a dummy about this numbers stuff, but taking all of that into account, Chicago’s cap-ologists should be able to successfully cook the books and figure out how to give Parsons his extension.

3) Parsons Fills a Need

This spring, the Bears improved a pass rush in sore need of improvement, inking Grady Jarrett and Dayo Odeyingbo. Both are perfectly functional NFL players, but neither are Parsons-level game-wreckers.

For that matter, in today’s NFL, there aren’t any Parsons-level game-wreckers. Except Parsons. Thus, need filled.

4) There’s Successful Precedent

In 2018, the Bears sent two first-round picks, a third-rounder, and a sixth-rounder to the Los Angeles Raiders in exchange for then-27-year-old all-world linebacker Khalil Mack and a second-rounder.

During his first season in Chicago, Mack was his usual Mack-ian self, racking up 12.5 sacks in 14 games, helping drag the Bears to one of their six playoff appearances of the 21st Century.

Admittedly, the rest of his Windy City tenure was a mixed bag—injuries and garbage coaching will do that to a guy—but his mere presence always made the Bears D at least somewhat formidable.

5) Their Pass Rush Will Be Set For the Next Three Seasons…At Least

Montez Sweat is 27-years-old. He’s signed through the 2027 season.

Odeyingbo is 24-years-old. He’s signed through the 2027 season.

Austin Booker is 21. He’s signed through the 2027 season.

I could go on.

Point being, the Chicago Bears have some young defensive talent under team control for the immediate future, setting them up for both short- and long-term success.

All of which is why Poles needs to get on the phone before another ballsy GM swipes the player who could someday win the Chicago Bears a Super Bowl.