Dallas Cowboys: Who will wears the green dot on defense?

For the Dallas Cowboys, drafting Micah Parsons with the intent to put him at middle (Mike) linebacker adds a question that not many people are asking, “Who wears the green dot?”

The green dot, for those who do not know, signifies the helmet that has the headset to hear the coaches. The coaches will call a play, make adjustments, and can talk to a player until the play clock reads fifteen seconds or the next play, whichever comes first.

There is only one green dot allowed per side of the football on the field at a time. The offense gets three set-ups and the defense gets two for backups to be able to hear.

The Dallas Cowboys are trying figure out who will wear the green dot.

Jaylon Smith has been wearing the dot since it usually goes to a linebacker and a defensive captain. Taking it from him would be awkward but not unprecedented. Devin White for the Buccaneers was given the green dot when he was a rookie, so it is not out of the question for a rookie to wear one, just not the usual.

One thing the Buccaneers had that probably helped was a ton of veterans on the field to help White adjust to play-calling. This does lead to a question on if Micah Parsons will be wearing it his rookie season.

The upside to him wearing it is there is a new defensive coordinator, so anything Jaylon would have brought into the season is gone due to the change. This would keep Parsons on the field more often as he would be one of the two players to have it on defense. Dan Quinn could start fresh with his defense using someone who has not settled into habits.

The downside is whether Parsons is ready to wear it. Parsons is still raw at the position with only two years of college experience at the position and he just took a year off. This could mean that Parsons may not be ready to adjust to the NFL and what offenses could potentially throw at him. Teams could wait until the fifteen-second mark and then move players around and force Parsons to have to make calls on the field. Without a lot of veterans on the defense, it could go good or bad.