Cowboys’ Micah Parsons named 2021 Butkus Award winner

The accolades for Dallas Cowboys rookie linebacker Micah Parsons have been plentiful. He was selected to the Pro Bowl, named a First-Team All-Pro, the Defensive Rookie of the Month on two occasions, the NFC Defensive Player of the Year by the NFL’s 101 awards, and the Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America.

That’s more than an entire career for most players, but Parsons continues to rack up honors. He was recently named the 2021 Butkus award winner given to the league’s top linebacker.

The Butkus award was instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic of Orlando in honor of Hall of Famer Dick Butkus who played nine seasons for the Chicago Bears (1965-1973) and is annually given to the top linebacker on the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. Parsons joins past winners such as former Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware (2008, 2011), Von Miller (2012), Khalil Mack (2016, 2018), T.J. Watt (2020), and Luke Kuechly who holds the record with three selections (2014, 2015, 2017).

Parsons was given this prestigious honor due to a spectacular rookie campaign in which tallied 84 tackles (20 tackles for loss), 13 sacks, 30 quarterback hits, three forced fumbles, and three passes defended.

This won’t be the last award he takes home though as next week he is expected to be named the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year and could win the Defensive Player of Year award as well.

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