Mike Zimmer May Have Accidentally Revealed New Role for Micah Parsons
One of the most exciting parts of the upcoming Dallas Cowboys' season is getting to see what the defense will look like. Dan Quinn was a great defensive coordinator overall, but he overlooked some key issues that led to the Cowboys defense underwhelming in 2023.
Mike Zimmer came in with clear plans to change that, and fans were already prepared to see big changes.
He also may have just leaked one of those changes by accident while commenting on the impact of Sam Williams' devastating knee injury. It's also a change that Cowboys fans are going to love, involving Micah Parsons.
Cowboys DC Mike Zimmer on @dfwticket on losing DE Sam Williams (knee): “We had big plans for him. He was going to play an awful lot, probably I’m guessing, 70-75 percent of the time. … We’ll just have to move some chess pieces around and try to figure out other ways to do… https://t.co/cF2uNtHu6X
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) July 29, 2024
Cowboys Rumors: Mike Zimmer Leaks Potential Micah Parsons Role Change
The comments obviously don't address Parsons directly, but it's not too difficult to make the connection. He projected Williams to play 70 to 75% of the Cowboys' defensive snaps. Williams is an EDGE defender.
Demarcus Lawrence is still on the roster and has played between 57 and 62% of the Cowboys' defensive snaps in each of the last five years. Even before factoring in potential work for second-round pick Marshawn Kneeland, doing rough math with 75% and 60% gives us only about two-thirds of an EDGE role left up for grabs.
This means Cowboys fans stand to get a lot more of what they've been asking for: Micah Parsons taking a larger off-ball role again.
According to PFF, Parsons played 755 snaps on the d-line compared to 106 at linebacker (that's 88% on the line) in 2023. That was the highest rate of his career.
He was incredible as in that role, of course, but a lot of Cowboys fans lamented how that more straightforward role meant Dan Quinn wasn't capitalizing on one of Parsons' biggest strengths — his versatility. He did see increase pass-rush production (with a career-high 14.0 sacks), but the increase wasn't that big. He had 103 pressures compared to 90 in 2022. That is while his run defense grade fell from 73.2 in 2022 to 68.1 in 2023.
Williams' injury may push Parsons back to the edge more than Zimmer was originally planning, but look at those comments. He emphasizes wanting to move players around and playing Kneeland in a significant role.
When you factor in his emphasis earlier this offseason about getting bigger (no more safeties at linebacker), there's another point in favor of playing Parsons off the ball while having four true defensive linemen.
Of course the results in live game action will be more important han any offseason reception to Zimmer's changes, but he really looks to be on the right course when it comes to transforming the Cowboys' defense in exactly the way fans were hoping for.
For Parsons, the ability to roam all over the field again could finally get him the Defensive Player of the Year award that he deserves. FanDuel Sportsbook even has him as the favorite, at +500, to win DPoY. That puts him ahead of Myles Garrett (+600), TJ Watt (+750) and Nick Bosa (+850) as the only players getting better than 10-to-1 odds.
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