How Cowboys’ Micah Parsons plans to be ‘matchup nightmare’ all over field

By David Helman
FOX Sports Dallas Cowboys Writer

OXNARD, Calif. — Micah Parsons was a major headache for opposing offenses last season. That headache is about to get worse.

It’s not just the type of problem that all good football players present. If you’re built like a superhero, like Parsons — 6-foot-3, 248 pounds with a 4.36 40 time — of course you’re going to be tough to play against.

But as the Cowboys‘ offensive line is finding out every day in camp, dealing with the versatile linebacker is just as much about what his job is, in addition to how well he does it.

“A lot of the stuff they’re doing is kind of disguised,” said right guard Zack Martin this past weekend. “They’ll draw up a D-lineman, but they’ll bring Micah, so you’ve kind of got to — not guess, but you’ve got to make an educated guess on who to put the line on.”

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Not that this is exactly new. Parsons moved between linebacker and edge rusher as a rookie in the wake of DeMarcus Lawrence‘s foot injury, and he was obviously effective at it. But if two weeks of training camp practices are any indication, it seems fair to say this coaching staff is comfortable putting even more on Parsons’ plate.

To this point, he seems to be handling it just fine.

“Certainly they value his rush ability and his speed, but we want to make sure we’re not just putting him into one spot,” said defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. “That’s kind of part of the uniqueness of him, and we’ll try to feature it as often as we can.”

The evidence is all over the Cowboys’ practice fields. On first down, you can find Parsons in the middle of the field, partnering with Leighton Vander Esch in the traditional linebacker mold. By third down, he’s hanging off the edge of the defensive front, posing Martin’s aforementioned puzzle on how best to protect the quarterback.

“You have six rushers on the field when there’s only five linemen,” Martin added. “So you kind of have to think, ‘Who are you going to leave for the back?’ Because if you leave No. 11 on the back, you can be in some trouble — and vice versa if you leave a D-lineman on the back.”

Parsons’ ability as a rusher is undeniable. From the first time Quinn sent him after the quarterback in Week 2 of last year, he piled up 13 sacks as a rookie, including three multi-sack games. By the end of the season, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy guessed that Parsons played as an open end — that is, the edge rusher on the weak side of the formation — roughly 40% of the time.

The team’s decision to sign Anthony Barr has fueled speculation that that percentage could be going up. With four Pro Bowls to his name as an off-ball linebacker, Barr could man the middle of the defense, freeing up Parsons to rush more often.

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Not too keen to give up the game, Parsons pointed out Barr’s ability as a pass rusher.

“Barr told me he likes to rush, too,” Parsons said. “To have that switch-up, it’ll be nice.”

Suffice to say, it sounds like the Cowboys are going to keep asking Parsons to do a little bit of everything. More fun than that, it sounds like his job will depend on more than just the simplicity of his alignment.

“At the end of the day, it is about what responsibility you give him,” McCarthy said. “He needs to be on the line of scrimmage — at least going after the football. I think we all recognize that. But his ability to play linebacker is obviously a gift.”

Much as Parsons’ speed might help him reach the quarterback, McCarthy and others have mentioned it as justification for playing him at linebacker. Ever fond of his GPS readouts, McCarthy noted that Parsons recently kept stride with Tony Pollard on a downfield route, clocking out at roughly 20 miles per hour. Martin also mentioned Parsons’ ability to keep pace with Pollard, who is widely regarded as one of the fastest backs in the NFL.

“His ability to make plays on the second level is definitely a huge asset for our defense,” McCarthy said. 

Fortunately for Martin and offensive linemen everywhere, Parsons will be wearing that big, bold No. 11 to identify himself. Other than that, it sounds like he’ll be doing everything in his power to make life difficult on anyone on the other side of the ball.

“I hate to limit myself, because of how much I can do in coverage and man-on-man,” he said. “I think that’s what adds the versatility, that’s what adds the matchup nightmare. So I’m going to keep floating around and make these people try to find me.”

David Helman covers the Dallas Cowboys for FOX Sports, providing insight and analysis on the NFL’s most visible franchise. Prior to joining FOX, David spent nine seasons covering the Cowboys for the team’s official website, DallasCowboys.com. In 2018, he won a regional Emmy for his role in producing “Dak Prescott: A Family Reunion” about the quarterback’s time at Mississippi State.