Thursday night when the preseason kicked off in earnest, rookies stole the show.

Positional value be damned, Cardinals running back Jeremiyah Love, chosen No. 3 overall, flashed some elusive explosiveness behind a patchwork offensive line.

MendozaMania soft launched in Las Vegas, with the No. 1 overall choice completed 10-of-16 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown, while leading the Raiders’ offense for four possessions.

“I see an ascending player,” Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak told reporters afterwards. “We just got to keep getting better.”

Then, in Santa Clara, 49ers second-round rookie receiver De'Zhaun Stribling flashed an absolutely insane catch radius, that should calm the nerves of some of the Faithful after watching Ricky Pearsall lost for the season and Mike Evans battling through some training camp injuries.

Finally, in Pittsburgh, Drew Allar looked like the Steelers’ reconstruction project may have actually rebuilt the former five-star recruit who arrived in Happy Valley as the No. 1 quarterback in his recruiting class with a bombastic NFL debut.

It’s early, but there were encouraging signs all across the league from some of the prizes of this year’s draft class.

Inside this mailbag, we revisit the Micah Parsons trade, and find out if Jerry Jones’ resulting overhaul has swayed executives inside the league on how the blockbuster should be viewed, dive into three teams that could be primed to take a step back in the season ahead, and check in on another rising rookie.

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Now, let’s tackle this week’s mailbag questions …

The timing of this question is fascinating.

In Green Bay, moments after the trade went down, it felt like general manager Brian Gutekunst throwing all of the chips into the middle of the table, betting the house on a three-year Super Bowl window, maximizing Jordan Love’s prime years with arguably the premier pass rusher in the sport.

Those are still the stakes in Green Bay.

However, with Parsons’ timeline now looking at Week 6 being “The most optimistic” projection, and a black hole of unknown at this stage about when the All-Pro will return to his genuinely disruptive game-wrecking form.

Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys utilizing the financial flexibility and cap space gained by the trade to retool the defense, this might not be the grand slam home run-deal for Gutekunst and Green Bay that it initially seemed.

As my good friend, colleague, and co-host on the Between The Hashmarks Podcast, veteran NFL reporter Mike Tanier points out in this year’s FTN Almanac, Jerry Jones and the Cowboys have systematically upgraded all three levels of the defense over the past calendar year to the point where the vision taking shape in Dallas may actually make this bit of a more even trade than met the eye.

“So, the Cowboys traded Parsons for Kenny Clark, Malachi Lawrence, [cornerback] Devin Moore, [defensive tackle] LT Shelton,” Tanier writes in the FTN Almanac. “A significant chunk of Williams, and bits and pieces of free agent defenders like Jalen Thompson and Cobie Durant. The Cowboys turned one All Pro into about half a defense, including a first-round prospect and some former Pro Bowlers who are still playing well. 

“The Parsons trade looks even better when seen as part of an array of transactions and acquisitions. The Cowboys traded a fifth-round pick for Packers edge rusher Rashan Gary in February. They traded defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, the odd man out with Clark and Williams in the lineup, to the 49ers for a third-round pick that became toolsy edge prospect Jaishawn Barham. Trading Odighizuwa’s salary gave the Cowboys a little extra flexibility in free agency, helping them land Durant, Thompson and others.”

That’s quite the reset from an age and financial standpoint, of a defense that allowed 377 yards per game (third-most in the NFL), and a league-high 30.1 points per game, after removing Parsons six hours before the regular season kicked off.

While there are a lot of moving parts for the Cowboys, and there may be a learning curve, it isn’t difficult to see the plan here. Get younger, add a pair of blue-chip rookies at two premium positions (Lawrence and Downs), in hopes of becoming even an average complement to one of the NFL’s most prolific offenses, that behind Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens averaged 27.7 points per game, second only to the Los Angeles Rams last season.

At least one executive isn’t yet sold on the Cowboys’ defensive revamp.