The price the Packers paid for star pass-rusher Micah Parsons was, no doubt, high. The team sent out two first-round picks plus Kenny Clark to get their hands on the ex-Cowboys star, and with 12.5 sacks for the 8-3-1 Packers, folks in Green Bay regret nothing about the swap.
In Dallas, though, as the Cowboys have been surging with three straight wins–including beating the Eagles and Chiefs–the spin on Parsons continues. Team owner Jerry Jones, who mishandled the negotiations on a new contract for Parsons before ultimately trading him to Green Bay, said on Friday that he nearly sent Parsons to the Jets before the season and that, really, he didn’t think his star pass-rusher was all that good.
According to Jones, the Cowboys had talked about sending Parsons to the Jets for Quinnen Williams, who was dealt to Dallas at this year’s trade deadline. The offer–and this is something the Jets will surely refute–was Parsons and a first-round pick for Williams.
Micah Parsons Came Up Short With Cowboys
Jones said something that the Packers will surely test in the immediate and in the long-term in Green Bay: That Parsons did not have a big enough impact on winning and losing.
“Micah is very impactful, but we really hadn’t won with Micah,” Jones said Friday. “Not because of Micah. We just hadn’t won because (the opponent) was able to work around us having Micah. They ran right at him or they basically threw the ball quicker. Those are simplistic things.
Indeed, Parsons is one of the best pass-rushers in the NFL, only rating below Browns star Myles Garrett (who is on another planet) in the Pro Football Focus grading system, where Parsons rates a 93.2 and Garrett rates a 93.5. But Parsons is a mediocre run-stopper, ranked No. 38 among pass-rushers with a 66.3 rating.
The Packers as a whole have only a mediocre run defense, ranked No. 16 in the NFL.
Packers Seeing Parsons Get Double-Teamed
Parsons has had an issue with being double-teamed this season, and for the Packers, the key is to take advantage of that. Green Bay has an advantage Dallas did not have–the overall defensive talent is better. And Parsons has been effective in taking advantage when he is single-teamed by offensive linemen.
“It should be a loss for them,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “I think if you ask Micah, if they block him one-on-one, his answer is going to be that I should win. And our expectation is, if they block him one-on-one, he’s going to win, too.
“Now he’s not going to win all of them. Let’s understand that. You’re not going to win everyone. But there were a few he won so fast where, I don’t care who was playing quarterback for them, the guy had no chance. So, I hope teams continue to try to block him one-on-one. But there were sometimes in that [Minnesota] game, where there were three guys on him.”
