Cowboys’ Micah Parsons high on the list of NFL’s best players according to PFF
The Dallas Cowboys had another successful regular season in 2023 and put seven players in the Pro Bowl. Not surprisingly, they were led defensively by edge rusher Micah Parsons who tallied a career-high 14 sacks and was named an All-Pro for the third consecutive year, clearly making him one of the best players in the league.
Pro Football Focus has been counting down the top 50 players in the NFL going into 2024 this week. Parsons came in at No. 5 on the list.
5. EDGE Micah Parsons, Dallas Cowboys
Micah Parsons became just the fourth player in the PFF era to record 100 or more pressures in a single season, finishing the 2023 regular season with 103 from his 17-game slate. He is one of the most dynamic and explosive pass-rushers the game has ever seen, and he played the purest pass-rushing role of his career so far this past year. Only Myles Garrett had a higher pass-rush win rate than the 24.1% Parsons managed, and his pressure rate was the top mark in the league.
The Cowboys have been one of the better defenses in the NFL for the last three years, and it starts with Parsons on the line of scrimmage. He is the ultimate chess piece with his added skills of being able to play linebacker as well as rush from the interior at times due to his speed, power, and athleticism. Parsons hasn’t even been a full-time edge rusher that long, so he still has room to improve, which is scary considering how dominant he already is.
Parsons has the ability to completely wreck an entire game with the different ways he can attack, and it always gives the Cowboys chances to make big plays defensively when he’s on the field. The attention Parsons gets makes things easier for other guys on the line scrimmage with more one-on-one opportunities. Also, Parsons can navigate through double-teams with his athletic prowess, making him a nightmare to gameplan against.
At just 25 years old, Parsons has plenty of time to terrorize opposing offenses in the future, and he’ll certainly be at the top of these types of list for quite some time.