Micah Parsons was a standout youth and middle school wrestler before devoting himself to football full-time. He’s remained an avid fan of the sport and has famously brought some of that grappler mentality to the way he plays linebacker and edge rusher for the Cowboys.
And now he’s also incorporating boxing.
The third-year star is always looking for ways to improve his game, and this offseason has seen him bulk up and add muscle in anticipation of being an even more effective pass rusher. From there, it was an easy and natural step to also add sparring and bagwork, to better combat the league’s top offensive linemen.
“I got tired of people punching me in my face,” Parsons explained earlier this month. “I’m a smaller end, and these guys are long. Just learning how to keep my hands up, knocking down, defending my chest, defending my face, and just being smooth.”
Parsons has been one of several Cowboys putting in work at TMack Elite Training in Allen; he’s also brought along fellow Dallas defenders Chauncey Golston and Osa Odighizuwa.
“Osa’s coming in; you can’t imagine him hitting a bag,” Parsons said with a smile. “It’s all aggressiveness. I’m like, ‘Osa, smooth. Just jab. You just need a small jab. You don’t have to try to knock him out every time.'”
But Parsons has gotten defensive coordinator Dan Quinn into the ring, too. Quinn has long used it in his own workouts, and he’s even brought boxing gloves onto the practice field for drills with the team. He’s a firm believer in the benefits that the sweet science can lend to the gridiron, especially in the early phases of offseason and minicamp when the big guys in the trenches aren’t allowed to have physical contact.
“The conditioning, the hands, the feet,” Quinn said, “it’s a big deal for an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman because you can throw 7-on-7, you can throw routes on air and get your timing down, but for the big guys, there’s nothing that can simulate [their part]. But what can simulate that is the movement and the quickness, being on offense, being on defense as a fighter, that helps. So we have a number of guys that have done that this offseason, both offensive line and defensive line.”
And Quinn’s willingness to get in and mix it up with his unit has had the 52-year-old Quinn slugging away alongside the young lion in the gym… and keeping up punch for punch.
Mostly, Parsons says.
“There was few times DQ said, ‘Hold on,'” Parsons recalled, breathing heavy for dramatic effect. “And then afterward, he said, ‘You know what, Micah? I’m going to trust in your process. You’re going to have a hell of a year this year.” I’m like, ‘You damn right, Q.'”
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And if the time spent perfecting hooks and jabs this summer helps the linebacker notch a few more sacks and TFLs this fall by teaching him new ways to keep his balance, distribute power, and deflect his opponents’ hands, then it will turn out to have been a knockout of an idea.
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It’s all part of Parsons’s all-inclusive approach to improvement- for himself, for his coordinator, for his whole team- by any means available to him.
“That’s the thing I like about boxing,” said Parsons. “You can’t just throw a punch without your legs; you’ve got to have your legs underneath you at all times. Constantly moving, keeping your hands going, keeping their hands off you. I’m trying to take everyone up a level because I’m trying to take this D-line up a level.”
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