Micah Parsons loves his new role in Mike Zimmer’s defense: ‘He’s giving me a lot of free reign’

Micah Parsons loves his new role in Mike Zimmer’s defense: ‘He’s giving me a lot of free reign’

New Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer is one of the more lauded defensive play-callers in the NFL. Before he was fired after eight seasons as the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach in January of 2022, Zimmer engineered three top-5 defenses (2017-19) with six top-11 scoring defenses.

In his final five years as the Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator–a position he held for six seasons after stints in Atlanta and Dallas–he had four top-7 defenses. He knows how to get the most out of a defense.

Cowboys superstar EDGE rusher Micah Parsons is already reaping the benefits of having Zimmer call the shots from the sideline.

After Sunday’s 33-17 shellacking over the Cleveland Browns, Parsons gushed over his new role in his Dallas’ defense.

“I really like it because [Mike Zimmer] just gave me the free will,” Parsons said after the game, according to NFL.com’s Jeremy Bergman. “It’s also the discipline factor of he’s making other people learn different positions too and we practiced it in camp, which allows me to do this. It starts with the simple factor of me wanting to do it and Mike creating ideas for me to do it. He allows me just to range and go over the guard. Sometimes, he don’t even call it. Sometimes, he’s just like, ‘I trust you to do what you want.’ He calls a front, he’s like, ‘You said it. You make it. You get the guys lined up.’

“He’s giving me this free will to say, ‘Hey, if they’re coming out in this formation, you do that, you can go into there.’ He’s giving me a lot of free reign that I feel like I haven’t had over the last couple years, and the fact that we’ve got kinda like this trust factor … I really like it a lot.”

Parsons finished with four combined tackles, one sack and five quarterback hits in Sunday’s Week 1 victory. Dallas, collectively, made life miserable for Deshaun Watson, tallying a league-most six sacks with two interceptions.

The Cowboys were already one of the NFL’s top units last year, and with Zimmer calling the shots, they could potentially vault into new heights, should they stay healthy. Parsons is the straw that will stir the drink, and I’m sure their partnership will be more mutually beneficial as the year goes on. This is only the start.

Two of his teammates–Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb—also earned hefty extensions this offseason. Soon, it will be his turn. It would behoove Jerry Jones and Co. to get pen to paper sooner rather than later. Though Parsons wants to continue to prove that he’s the “best player” consistently.

“I really want to prove my value,” Parsons said. “I want to get [Cowboys owner Jerry Jones] a couple wins. I kinda just want to maximize my value so that they see we’ve got to keep this guy. This guy is great in the locker room, and he wants to be part of this team, and he cares about winning.”

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