The official record shows that rookie linebacker Micah Parsons played a single offensive snap for the Cowboys in 2021. But he’d like to make it a more regular thing.
The Defensive Rookie of the Year sat in on The Rich Eisen Show last week, and in an entertaining twist, swapped chairs with the host, taking over the broadcast for a couple segments. During a round of ‘What’s More Likely?’, the topic of Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill came up. By the time the chat was over, the do-everything Parsons had admitted that he’s lobbied the Dallas coaching staff to run routes and catch passes on gameday.
Parsons beat Hill, billed to be fastest player in the NFL, in a foot race during Pro Bowl Week in Las Vegas earlier this month. And while everyone who saw it- including Parsons- knows that Hill was essentially jogging, Parsons still believes that he could could chase down the man they call ‘The Cheetah’ if Hill had a ball in his hands on the way to the end zone.
“This is football,” Parsons reminded a skeptical Eisen. “We’re talking about running down. So there’s angles, there’s pursuit.”
After Eisen capitulated- perhaps for the sake of the interview- and said he’d go with Parsons, the confident 22-year-old agreed.
“I’m taking me, too. No question.”
But Parsons also said he’d like to turn the tables on Hill, making the receiver play defense and cover him while he ran pass routes.
In addition to his official linebacker title, Parsons spent a lot of time lined up as an edge rusher in his rookie season. The Cowboys coaching staff also turned him loose in pass coverage, not hesitating to let him turn into a defensive back on occasion. So moonlighting is already a skill Parsons possesses.
“Do you want to play offense?’ Eisen probed. “Would you do that?”
“Yeah,” Parsons shot back with zero hesitation.
“Have you suggested this to Mike McCarthy?”
“Yeah.”
“And what did they say?”
Here, Parsons gave a painfully long pause.
“They obviously… don’t see the vision I see.”
It was a comical moment that Parsons deadpanned for a laugh, but it’s not necessarily a wildly off-base idea. Parsons played running back in high school, in addition to defensive end. And the Cowboys certainly recognize him as a rare multi-talent who can do practically anything on the football field, even at the pro level.
They’d already let him play offense… in his very first NFL game.
It was Week 1 in Tampa. Bucs kicker Ryan Succop had just kicked a 36-yard field goal to give his team a 31-29 lead. After a touchback on the ensuing kickoff, Dallas had the ball on their own 25 with two seconds to play, time enough for one desperation play.
For what would likely be a last-ditch game of keep-away full of laterals and backward passes, the Cowboys went with an unusual personnel grouping, putting only their fastest and most versatile players on offense.
Tony Pollard would take the direct snap. Cedrick Wilson, Corey Clement, and Darian Thompson were in the backfield. C.J. Goodwin, Donovan Wilson, Dorance Armstrong, Keanu Neal, Jabril Cox, and Leighton Vander Esch were all in on the schoolyard play, too.
And Micah Parsons is the one who snapped the ball.
The play was snuffed out rather quickly, but not before Parsons threw enough of a block on defensive tackle Vita Vea to keep the Buccaneers Pro Bowler from getting anywhere near a tackle.
Knowing now what soon became evident to everyone regarding Parsons’s elite athleticism and game-changing tendencies on the field, one can only wonder what might have happened had Parsons ended up being a ball carrier instead of just the center.
Parsons himself would sure like to find out one of these days.
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