When the Hard Knocks clip of New York Giants owner John Mara and general manager Joe Schoen discussing Saquon Barkley’s free agency, the football world lost it. Many wondered how a franchise could let its best player walk out the door and sign in the division. But what the Giants did to another Penn State legend was even worse.
Micah Parsons sat out the pandemic-shortened 2020 college football season to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft. That added uncertainty to his draft situation and allowed the dominant Penn State linebacker, who would eventually become an even better edge rusher for the Dallas Cowboys, to slide outside of the top 10. But Parsons wasn’t worried because he had an assurance from New York that if he slid to where they were set to select at No. 11, he’d come off the board. So how did he end up dominating the Giants for a division rival?
Michah Parsons reveals he was supposed to be a Giant:
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) February 6, 2025
"The Giants lied to me... They told me, if I fell to 11 that they was gonna pick me. I swear. ... It's personal when I play them."
NYG traded back & took Kadarius Toney instead.
(🎥 @BMac_SportsTalk)pic.twitter.com/u2vQAfzr4I
As Parsons explained to CBS Sports’s Bryant McFadden, a former NFL defensive back, the Giants backed out of their promise, instead trading back to pick No. 20 to allow the Chicago Bears to select Justin Fields at No. 11. At No. 20, the Giants took Florida wide receiver Kadarius Toney, who was traded midway through his second season and has played on three teams over his four-year NFL career.
It would have been great for Penn State fans to root for a team that featured both Barkley and Parsons, but heading to Dallas was certainly better for his career. Barkley was robbed of prime seasons by the Giants' dysfunction; stuck behind terrible offensive lines with no answer at quarterback, and Parsons’ story is just another example of how that organization cannot get out of its own way.
For all the grief that New York’s front office took for letting Barkley walk and him immediately rushing for 2,000 yards in Philadelphia, trading back instead of selecting Parsons, a player you had promised to draft, and ending up with Toney, is much worse. Barkley wouldn’t have changed that franchise’s fate in 2024, but Parsons would have in 2021 and beyond.