The Dallas Cowboys made the most with first-round pick Micah Parsons in 2021, as the rookie out of Penn State put together a monstrous season en route to taking home NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Honors. Parsons proved himself as a versatile playmaker en route to terrorizing opposing offenses, and versatility is something Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy wants to maintain with Parsons “moving around” despite questions over a potential full-time move to defensive end.
“The people that say, ‘Hey, why don’t you play him at defensive end?’ (are) very fair. That’s a very fair question,” McCarthy said, via the team’s website. “But we’ve made it clear: We want him moving around. It would be very easy to just line him up at end and play him there every down, but the fact of the matter is he had, what, 13 sacks. Seven came from the linebacker position, six from the defensive end position.”
Parsons played a pivotal role in 2021 in turning around what had been a disastrous defense for the Cowboys one year prior and getting Dallas back to the playoffs for the first time since 2018 before suffering a first-round exit at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers . Parsons, during his rookie season, established a new Dallas rookie record with 13 sacks, totaling 84 tackles and 42 quarterback pressures with three forced fumbles.
Parsons’ disruptive presence produced 20 tackles for loss, which ranked third across the league. He was named a Pro Bowl selection for his efforts. Parsons was one one of four rookies who were selected and was the only first-year player picked as an Associated Press first-team All-Pro, collecting more votes than any positional peer. He also was named the winner of the Butkus Award as the league’s top linebacker.
A 2019 All-American and Big Ten Linebacker of the Year, Parsons twice led Penn State in tackles before opting out of 2020 collegiate competition amid the pandemic. In 26 career Nittany Lions gameshis statistical output included 192 tackles — 19 for loss — and 6.5 sacks.
Parsons earned Cotton Bowl MVP honors in his final college contest and graduated from Penn State a year later. Despite spending a season away from game action, he was the first linebacker off the 2021 NFL Draft board in April, selected 12th overall.
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A former five-star prospect in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite Player Rankings, Parsons came out of Harrisburg (Penn.) High School as the No. 5 overall prospect in the nation for the 2018 cycle, regardless of position.
Lions247.com contributed to this report.
