Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer has never had a player like Micah Parsons who can be used in so many different ways.
Parsons has never been coached in the way Zimmer is working with him. When you combine Zimmer and Parsons, their relationship seems set to bring out the best in Parsons.
“I think it’s going to be a very interesting year,” Parsons said.
Parsons, who was named AP Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2021 and has been a two-time first-team All-Pro, has mostly been a pass rusher in his first three NFL seasons. His sack total increased from 13 in his rookie season to 13 1/2 in 2022 and 14 last season.
However, Parsons will be playing more as a linebacker under Zimmer, who has been a defensive coordinator for the Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons, and Cincinnati Bengals for 14 seasons before becoming head coach of the Minnesota Vikings for eight years.
Zimmer came back to the Cowboys in February after being away from the game for two seasons following his dismissal by the Vikings in January 2022.
One of his immediate goals was to find ways to maximize Parsons’ potential, hoping to see “if we can help him continue to be a little bit better all the time,” Zimmer said.
Parsons has lost a few pounds to better chase running backs, slot receivers, and tight ends in coverage. A major change has been his meetings with Zimmer and run game coordinator Paul Guenther over breakfast to enhance his football knowledge. Parsons finds these sessions so valuable that he believes they are laying the groundwork for him to become a coach in the future.
“We go through defense stuff, but we go through the X’s and O’s of why this happened, why we don’t call this, why we roll the coverage, who we want to take out of the coverage,” Parsons said.
“So I’m not just learning the D-line stuff for the front. I’m learning the back end, the corners, the safeties. Why we want to show this way, why we want to send the pressure over this way because the safety’s over there? You know, it’s interesting, and it’s a perspective I never had before.”
Zimmer wants players to avoid focusing only on their specific position. By understanding the whole system, even asking an edge rusher about the cornerback’s role in a Cover 2 pass defense, Zimmer believes they will perform their tasks better.
With Parsons, Zimmer aims to make the most of his considerable talent.
“Great players want to be coached,” Zimmer said. “Players want to get better. And my philosophy has always been if they think you can help them, and you know what you’re doing, they’re gonna listen ’cause their career is not very long.
And so the more they can become better and better, obviously the better for the team and better for their careers.”
Parsons appreciates this kind of intense coaching. He credits Penn State head coach James Franklin and then defensive coordinator Brent Pry, now the head coach at Virginia Tech, for pushing him hard, which helped him get drafted 12th overall.
Now, Parsons wants Zimmer and Guenther to help him become the top defender in football. When Zimmer talks, Parsons understands it’s important.
“Zim doesn’t say a lot, but he says why,” Parsons said. “Like there’s always a purpose behind what he says, so when he does speak, you actually like really listen to it and you gravitate to it.”
Even after losing defensive end Sam Williams to a torn ACL, which was expected to reduce Parsons’ role as a linebacker, Zimmer is eager to work on getting the most out of Parsons’ abilities.
“Obviously I’ve had some really good players, Deion Sanders, Danielle Hunter, guys we’ve been able to do a lot of different things with,” Zimmer said. “But with him, I don’t know that he couldn’t play every position. He could probably play free safety if he wanted to.”
