‘I need to dominate’: Cowboys’ Micah Parsons on his plan for Super Bowl, awards, early retirement
“I’m tired of watching Super Bowls in suites.”
It was a line Micah Parsons played for a chuckle, but it speaks to two significant and serious truths.
One, the Cowboys linebacker is already among the league’s elite A-listers. At only 24 years old and entering just his third pro season, he’s the kind of VIP celebrity fixture who is invited to and shows up at every major event, even if he’s just hanging out in a luxury suite.
And two, he craves to play in a championship in a way that is almost painful.
“It weighs a lot,” Parsons said of his Super Bowl dreams in a recent episode of The Pivot Podcast. “That’s why I want it early. I want it early. That’s why I say if I win a Super Bowl, I’ll never have to worry about anything ever in my life. It’s different, bro; the names that hold so much weight in Dallas? It really blows my mind how much Michael Irvin still is a legend in Dallas. He walks the street like a god. I’ve never seen it like that, ever. I want it early. I need it bad.”
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Making the boat go faster
Parsons is refreshingly unapologetic about wanting to etch his own name alongside the best of the best. He’s certainly on that track; with just 36 games (including playoffs) under his belt, Parsons was just ranked the ninth-best player in the NFL by the league’s own.
But the Pennsylvania native knows the personal accolades are tied directly to team success. The real G.O.A.T.s have championships to show for it.
“Each year I’ve been here,” Parsons says, “I had a team that was capable.”
Maybe even more so this year. The former first-round draft pick is visibly excited by what he sees taking shape this offseason in the Cowboys locker room and currently on the practice fields at Oxnard.
“No one is worried about ‘I’ no more,” he says. “It’s about: ‘How can the boat go faster?’ If one person’s rowing a boat, it’ll go slow as hell. But if we’ve got four people that’s trying to row this boat, it’s going to go right in the direction we want. Fast.”
But within that competitive rowing analogy, Parsons is actually doing double duty, simultaneously occupying two seats in the boat. He’s clealy the stroke, the strongest rower who sets the rhythm and pace for the rest of the crew.
“I think I’ve stepped into that role of just willingly saying, ‘Y’all got to come every day to outwork me.’ I told the guys in the room, ‘At this point, we’re leaving money on the table. Respectfully, I’m trying to beat the hell out of you, [DeMarcus Lawrence], every day. You, [Dorance Armstrong], every day. I don’t even want that [expletive] to be close.’
“My mindset is: I need to dominate every day. Every breakdown is ‘Be great.'”
But Parsons is also doing the job of the coxswain, ultimately steering the vessel and bringing out the best from everyone around him.
“I’m calling people out on [expletive] I used to do. I would be in meetings and not writing [things] down. Now, every time you catch me in a meeting, I’m writing something, trying to grab something that [defensive coordinator Dan Quinn]’s saying, so that way it’s correlating out onto the field. So I see young guys, I’m like, ‘Yo, why aren’t you writing?’ … I need everybody on this top level now. We’ve got one shot.”
Looking past the money
Parsons is demanding excellence from himself as well as everyone who also wears the silver and blue. Just as veteran quarterback Dak Prescott is the leader of the offense, Parsons owns the defense in a very real and obvious way.
In the eyes of many, Parsons is a more important piece of the Cowboys’ long-term future than Prescott. It’s why talk of a contract extension has already come up, just two seasons into his rookie deal.
And it’s why most observers expect Parsons to be made the highest-paid defensive player in history very soon, though that seems to be of secondary importance to the player himself.
“Yes, you want to be compensated for your work,” Parsons admits, “but I want to be feared by others, respected by others. I’m not thinking about ‘This game check; that’s what I’m looking for after the game.’ I’m looking to dominate you today.
“If we’re doing it, why not do it at 100? You’re not playing for the check. And then once people get the check, they fall off; I couldn’t do that. My competitiveness is too high for me to be like that. I pay the game because I love it. If I didn’t love the game, there’s no money in the world that could keep me playing.”
Parsons has even hinted at walking away from football just as soon as he’s achieved the goals- both team and personal- on his bucket list.
“David Mulugheta hates me,” Parsons laughed about his agent, “and he tells me I shouldn’t say this stuff out loud. But I said, ‘When I hit this age,’ and I won’t tell you the age- I said, “Dave, I’m leaving the game.’ He said, ‘Well, what if they–?’ ‘Dave. I’m leaving.’ He’s like, ‘They could offer you this.’ It’s not about the money, bro. … I can’t confuse purpose and passion.”
Eyeing a seat in the 'upper room'
Playing football at the highest possible level is currently both purpose and passion for Parsons. It was obvious the moment he stepped onto the practice field for the first time.
The Pivot co-host Fred Taylor relayed a story from 2021’s training camp. According to Trevon Diggs, defensive backs coach Al Harris pointed at the 22-year-old rookie and said matter-of-factly to the Cowboys cornerback, “That guy right there is a Hall of Famer.”
Parsons blushed at the tale.
“Man, to hear stuff like that? It makes me feel good,” he explained, “but it makes me feel like I’ve got so much to do.”
Parsons says he struggles with hearing that kind of praise now, because in his own mind, he can still be so much better. He subscribes to the “upper room” theory espoused by all-time great Deion Sanders, that just making it to Canton isn’t the ultimate honor and that not all Hall of Famers are equal.
“Guys get into the Hall of Fame,” Parsons shrugged. “But when you’re the best in the Hall of Fame? Your name always rings better.”
That’s where Parsons intends to be, and his assault on immortality begins this season. Already the Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2021 and the runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year in both of his pro seasons, Parsons is shooting for all the awards in 2023.
“Everything. Everything. Defensive Player of the Year, [Pro Bowl and All-Pro], Super Bowl, the whole nine.”
When asked about the league’s Most Valuable Player Award, Parsons added it to the list, too… and then backed up.
“MVP might be a stretch,” he laughed. “I’ve got to get a little more realistic.”
Watching him play when he is at his best, though? It actually doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility. In fact, nothing Parsons says he’s going to do seems unrealistic.
“Everything I say is going to happen. Because I believe it. I’ve visualized it already.”
And that includes winning that Super Bowl that’s eluded the Cowboys for over a quarter-century.
In his mind’s eye, Parsons has seen that unfold, too. In stunning detail. Even from the stadium suites he doesn’t want to be in again come Super Bowl Sunday.
“I’m visualizing that parade,” he smiled. “I watch all the families, I see the smiles. I wait to see the MVPs. Man, I can’t wait for mine. I’ve been here two years; I’m tired of watching.”
