From @ToddBrock24f7: Parsons is expecting dramatic changes in Dallas but believes Cowboys ownership will make the right decision with their next head coach.
No one knows exactly what’s going to happen next in Dallas as the Cowboys embark on the search for the 10th head coach in their history (and the ninth to be hired by Jerry Jones over the past 36 years).
But the team’s top defensive talent is under no illusions, fully expecting the most dramatic change he’s experienced since being drafted by the club in 2021.
“It’s going to be a complete reset,” Micah Parsons said on his Bleacher Report podcast, The Edge with Micah Parsons. “It’s going to be a very interesting and challenging offseason. But… I already know I trust my owner, I trust our GM, I trust Will McClay that we’re going to make the right decisions.”
The third-year edge rusher was one of several high-profile Cowboys players who just a month ago voiced his support for McCarthy to return as head coach for at least a sixth season in Dallas, explaining that a preponderance of injuries severely limited what any coaching staff would have been able to realistically do.
Parsons called the news of McCarthy’s departure “devastating.”
“Obviously very sad because [of] the relationships we have with Coach McCarthy and everything that he’s done for our program,” said Parsons, citing three consecutive 12-win seasons and three straight playoff berths under McCarthy prior to the disappointing 2024 campaign.
“Losing a great coach like Mike hurts.”
Some of that pain could also be anxiety over what comes next for the Cowboys, and the defense in particular. Parsons and his teammates already had to adjust to a completely new defensive scheme under coordinator Mike Zimmer, who joined the staff last February.
Now, even though Zimmer is still weighing his options, Parsons is preparing to start from scratch again. Only this time it will be without McCarthy, who made Parsons a first-round draft pick in 2021, or Dan Quinn, the coordinator/father-figure who transitioned Parsons from a linebacker to a four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher and one of just six NFL players to record 50 or more sacks in his first four seasons.
Currently up for a contract extension this offseason, Parsons is widely expected to earn a massive payday from the Cowboys, maybe even the highest contract ever for a defensive player.
But the 25-year-old has been around long enough to know there are no guarantees for anyone when a new staff moves into headquarters.
“Seeing how those guys envision players and who they want to bring in, who they want to keep, who they want to build around,” Parsons mused, “there are certain players that our staff liked that [the new staff] wouldn’t want to bring back and they might not bring back. It’s going to be challenging. These guys might have a different idea [of] how they want to build a defense.
“There’s no security in this league.”
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Parsons saw several of his teammates and assistant coaches follow Quinn to Washington this past season, and he says he won’t be shocked if others now end up wherever McCarthy eventually lands.
The yearly roster churn could leave Parsons as one of the Cowboys defense’s elder statesmen, even though he’s heading into just his fifth year.
Parsons feels he’s ready for that added responsibility.
“As one of the leaders of this team,” he went on to say per The Athletic‘s Jon Machota, “I’m gonna be looking forward to accepting all the challenges and embrace whatever comes to help lead my team to a championship. We gotta move on. We can’t think about the past.
“There are no setbacks. Some of the greatest players learn to adjust. … At the end of the day, coaches can only do so much. Us as players, we got to build a winning culture. I said were gonna hold the [Super Bowl] trophy because I believe in our guys.”
That the next Cowboys head coach and whoever serves as defensive coordinator for a title run in 2025 wouldn’t keep Parsons installed as the unquestioned centerpiece of the defense is extraordinarily difficult to imagine.
But never say never.
“When you’re in a program, those coaches draft you and they have an idea of where they want you to fit and how they want you to play,” Parsons said. “And when they’re all out, it’s kind of like you’re S.O.L.”
Likely not in this case. Parsons figures to remain a key piece for the Cowboys in 2025, no matter who ends up being in charge of putting the puzzle together.
But that doesn’t make the uncertainty of the coming days, weeks, and months any easier to stomach.
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