Rookie linebacker Micah Parsons looked like a 10-year veteran as a rookie in 2021 by terrorizing opposing offenses with his diverse skillset which led to him taking snaps at several different positions and garnering him First-Team All-Pro honors. He lived up to and surpassed all expectations that were placed upon him, but now, his historic season looks even more impressive with an alarming detail recently revealed.
The newly-crowned Defensive Rookie of the Year sat down with Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report for an exclusive one-on-one interview about his rookie campaign. The former Penn State Nittany Lion revealed that he suffered a hyperextended knee in the Cowboys training camp practice with the Los Angeles Rams who will play in Super Bowl LVI this Sunday. The injury lingered throughout the season.
“It was just something that kept lingering,” Parsons said. “When you hyperextend something it needs rest. But I was like, ‘I can’t take no rest.'”
That’s an unbelievable revelation.
Parsons recorded a sack in six straight games from Week 9 to Week 14 and totaled 13 for the season. Mixing in 20 tackles for loss and 30 quarterback hits, it’s unreal to think that he did so while playing injured.
Dallas was seen as a favorite to make a serious run in the NFC and challenge for their sixth Lombardi trophy this postseason. Instead, the 26-year drought continued with a less than flattering performance against the San Francisco 49ers at home in the first round. Parsons mentioned during HBO’s Hard Knocks last summer that he believed that the Cowboys would be in the Super Bowl in the next three years, and he isn’t backing off that statement.
“I do really believe that, Parsons told Rooks. “I see the guys around me and all the guys want it. If we clean the little things, oh my gosh, the sky is the limit.”
Parsons participated in the Pro Bowl in Las Vegas last week. While he seemed to make the best of his time by playing in a Madden tournament with his colleagues and winning the NFL’s Fastest Man race, he also talked about how the thing he would remember the most about his rookie season was the Cowboys losing in the first round.
During his conversation with Rooks, Parsons again expressed disappointment about how the 2021 season ended and said it will give him more of an appetite to dominate in year two.
“I didn’t expect to go out like that (in the playoffs),” said Parsons. “That’s one bad thing about the Cowboys, when we lose, everybody is happy we lose. It just builds something inside. I think next year is going to be a different type of hunger for me.”
The thought of what a motivated and fully healthy Parsons can do in 2022 should cause some sleepless nights for offensive coordinators around the NFL.