If this were a movie, Micah Parsons would run out of the Lambeau Field tunnel last, the crowd would lose its mind, and his old team would have to watch. Instead, as ESPN put it, Parsons will be out of uniform tonight and will have zero impact on who wins.

The Green Bay Packers host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Last season's reunion was in Dallas, so this is the first time Parsons' old team comes to his new home since the August 2025 trade, a deal people are still arguing about.

Wait, what happened with Parsons?

Quick refresher: Parsons forced his way out of Dallas after contract talks went sour, NFL.com reported. Green Bay gave him a four-year, $188 million extension, and the Cowboys got defensive tackle Kenny Clark plus the Packers' first-round picks in 2026 and 2027, per ESPN.

The teams' first meeting, last September in Dallas, ended in a wild 40-40 tie, and Parsons had a sack. Then in December he tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee. He has spent this whole season on the physically unable to perform list and still hasn't been cleared to practice, per USA Today.

He isn't sweating the timing. “I don’t care about the team I left or the team they think I want my revenge against,” Parsons said on his podcast, per NFL.com. “I don’t need revenge. I just need two healthy knees to do what I love to do.”

He also says he's close. “If the Super Bowl was this week, I’m playing in the Super Bowl,” he said, per NFL.com. Coach Matt LaFleur has said he wants Parsons' body fully in sync first, so one leg isn't much stronger than the other.

So who's winning the trade?

Nobody, yet. Green Bay was 9-3-1 when Parsons got hurt last season and didn't win another game, including a playoff loss, ESPN noted. This year the Packers are 3-2, and Lukas Van Ness, a player Parsons has championed, leads the team with eight quarterback hits.

Dallas is 2-3 and still rebuilding its defense. The Cowboys rank 31st in yards allowed at 395.4 per game, have just five sacks in five games and haven't intercepted a pass in 248 attempts, the NFL's longest active streak, ESPN reported. Owner Jerry Jones has compared the deal to the 1989 Herschel Walker trade that helped build three Super Bowl winners.

There's even a subplot. Edge rusher Rashan Gary, whom Green Bay traded to Dallas in March, is heading back to Lambeau in blue, as the Cowboys put it on X. Quarterback Dak Prescott summed up the mood: “It’s not me versus Micah, or the Cowboys versus Micah. It’s about us going in and getting to win.”

What's next

Kickoff is 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Parsons still has no set return date, and after tonight the Packers visit Detroit before hosting Carolina on Thursday Night Football, per USA Today. Whenever he does come back, you can bet Dallas will be watching.