Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons has finished as the runner-up in AP Defensive Player of the Year voting in back-to-back seasons.
In 2022, he fell short of San Francisco 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa, who led the NFL with 18.5 sacks. Bosa officially ended his holdout Wednesday after he and the 49ers agreed to terms on a five-year, $170 million contract extension with $122.5 million guaranteed, making Bosa the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history.
Speaking with the media Wednesday ahead of Week 1 against the New York Giants this Sunday, Parsons said he was “super happy” to see Bosa get paid, and that it gives him “something to chase.”
“Super happy for Nick Bosa, man,” Parsons said, via Jon Machota of The Athletic. “He really showed why he was the best player in the league last year. It gives you something to chase, man. And not in terms of his contract, but in terms of how great he was. He knows that I’m coming for him. He even said, ‘I won this year, and I know you’ll be coming for it next year.’
“And I said, ‘You’re damn right.’”
Micah Parsons enters 2023 season as a DPOTY favorite
Parsons himself is eligible for a contract extension in the future, which could very well exceed the amount Bosa received. Perhaps a Defensive Player of the Year Award of his own would guarantee it, as would another dominant season on the Cowboys’ defense.
The 24-year-old is entering his third season in the NFL after being selected in the first-round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Penn State. He’s compiled 26.5 sacks in 33 games, to go along with six forced fumbles and 56 quarterback hits.
As for the Defensive Player of the Year Award, Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse believes 2023 is the year Parsons finally gets it done.
“I expect a Defensive Player of the Year type of year from him. Hands down,” Kearse said last month. “If I was a betting guy, my money is on him. I’ve just seen the way he’s come in this year, different than the previous two. He has the ability to wreck a game at any given moment when he wants to. The type of impact I’m expecting him to have is not only for the defense, but for the team is tremendous. … Just his mentality in how he’s attacking things this year, it’s much different than I’ve seen in his previous years.
“… Comes in like, ‘I’m the lion.’ He lives like that throughout the day, throughout the week, just like, ‘I’m the baddest guy out here.’ He has shown that. That’s the biggest difference I’ve seen from him.”
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