Micah Parsons injury update should only make Cowboys fans angrier

Apparently, the Green Bay Packers traded two first-round picks and a veteran stalwart to the Dallas Cowboys for a player in Micah Parsons — someone who is also now inked to a deal worth $47 million per season — who might not play in Week 1. Or, at least, that's what the latest injury update for the All-Pro edge rusher would have you believe with less than a week until the Packers take the field.

With videos circulating of Parsons at practice with his new team following the undeniable mistake from Jerry Jones and the Cowboys, ESPN senior insider Adam Schefter offered a curiously timed injury update about the edge rusher's back, which was keeping him out of practice in Dallas prior to his injury.

Schefter reported that Parsons is dealing with a sprain in his back that could require an epidural to play in Week 1, and noted what the Cowboys were doing to help treat the injury prior to the trade.

The timing of this update, however, should actually infuriate Cowboys fans. Because while no one is saying that Parsons isn't dealing with a back injury, Schefter's update and the timing of it certainly feel like trying to explain away why the star edge rusher wasn't practicing with Dallas but is now on the field in Green Bay beyond "he was pissed off at Jerry Jones and didn't want to give in."

Micah Parsons injury update feels like it's trying to placate Cowboys fans

While I'm not questioning the integrity of a proven insider like Schefter, I'm also not one to get fooled by agent speak. The update on Parsons absolutely feels drenched in it, which is where the timing comes in. In the hours before the update, there were videos of Parsons practicing with the Packers and looking quite good in doing so, which is what you'd expect from the superstar defender in his new home.

Obviously, the immediate reaction from Cowboys fans was unbridled anger. Even if Parsons' final weeks in Dallas were marred by the Jones family's botching the situation with their star pass rusher, the fact that Parsons was lied out on an injury table during a preseason game and not suiting up for practice only to then immediately get out there for the Packers sure made it seem to fans like he might've been milking the back ailment as part of his negotiation tactics.

That, of course, wouldn't be a good look for Parsons, now the Packers, and the pass-rusher's agent. So is it not unreasonable to think that there could've been a call made to Schefter about the injury to reinforce that it's a real thing and ostensibly do some damage control? I don't think so.

Again, I fully believe that Parsons is going through some physical ailments. That was the case at the end of the Cowboys season a year ago, and it's understandable if he's still getting through it. However, it's not as cut and dry as Schefter's update might make it seem.

Cowboys fans can finally toss a little bit of blame at Micah Parsons

When you see the way this situation is still playing out as a Cowboys fan, though, it might be refreshing if you put some of the blame on someone other than Jerry Jones or his family in the front office. Make no mistake, they should shoulder the bulk of it. They let a 26-year-old player who's at the peak of his powers walk out the door because of ego and hubris — and didn't get a good return back for him.

No matter how you slice it, Jones is largely at fault. But much like the injury update, the blame game here isn't a simple matter. There's nuance to it, and it's starting to become clearer that Parsons had his own hand in the way things blew up in Dallas.

If he was able to immediately get on the practice field with Green Bay and given that the Cowboys were working with him to help rehab the injury (albeit while Parsons was getting a second opinion because Dallas deemed him healthy enough to practice), the fact that he's suddenly healthy enough to get on the field without that second doctor's opinion feels like a slap in the face to the organization that drafted him.

And to be sure, Parsons simply didn't handle the situation well either. He combatted Jones' worst instincts by being just as public with his side of negotiations and in the feud with the Cowboys. Moreover, while it was funny to see him laid out on the injury table in the preseason, that's also a pretty loudly disrespectful gesture on his part not just to the Joneses but to his now-former teammates as well.

All this is to say, Parsons isn't coming out of this smelling like roses. Jerry Jones and the Cowboys still look way worse because, well, at the end of the day, you just can't let a player of Parsons' caliber out the door for the return that you got back. But the edge rusher's start in Green Bay raises some questions about just how big his role in things falling apart in Dallas was.