5 areas the Dallas Cowboys will vastly improve this December

Dallas Cowboys Improvement No. 4

Linebacker

With the return of DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory to the defensive line, the Dallas Cowboys can undo some of the adjustments they made earlier in the year. One of those adjustments was moving Micah Parsons from linebacker to EDGE.

The Cowboys all-world rookie will still rush the passer, mind you, but he won’t play the defensive line full-time anymore. A fully staffed EDGE group means Micah can move back to that chess piece role he was drafted for. And the bulk of his snaps should, once again, come at the linebacker position. Parsons instantly upgrades the Dallas Cowboys abysmal situation at linebacker.

The unit that was supposed to be a strength heading into the season has been arguably the worst unit on the entire team. Leighton Vander Esch is nothing short of bad. Somehow Keanu Neal has been a little worse. Jaylon Smith was so bad he’s unemployed right now. And the rookie Jabril Cox is out for the year. Things have gotten so bad at linebacker, Dan Quinn has been leaning on his safeties to pick up the slack.

Micah Parsons is far less impactful as a linebacker than he is on the edge (such is the nature of the position) but he’s an elite playmaker that instantly upgrades the unit. As a LB, Parsons isn’t so easily schemed against and becomes more of a thorn for opposing offenses to deal with.

Parsons is the best coverage linebacker AND best run-stuffer of the unit and his ability to blitz from anywhere only adds to his value. His presence puts LVE and Neal back on a pitch count and hopefully gets more quality snaps from his underachieving brethren.