We are oh so close to real NFL football, and of course, ESPN had to check in with all the executives, coaches and scouts to do another pointless ranking.
Still, ESPN surveyed league executives, coaches and scouts to rank the top 10 players at 11 different positions.
From quarterback to cornerback and all positions in between. Micah Parsons ended up the best Dallas Cowboys. As the final ranking came in, he sits as the third best passer rusher according to all these guys.
Don’t Care
Let me say again that these rankings are just something for ESPN to talk about during the summer before training camp. I do think that Micah is indeed the third-best pass rusher. They might have gotten this one right though.
Myles Garret was first on the list, followed by TJ Watt, both guys who won the defensive player of the year award.
Next was Micah Parsons. Followed by Maxx Crosby and Nick Bosa.
Micah clearly has the numbers to be atop of this list, yet for some reason guys find a way to push him down the list.
His 126 pressures and 31.0% pass rush win rate since 2023 lead the NFL. He has done this despite facing a 31.5% double-team rate in 2024, highest among edge rushers on this list.
He generated a league-high 19.1% pressure rate last season and led the Cowboys with a 24.2% pressure share, the eighth-highest clip in the NFL. His pass rush win rate of 25.3% ranked second overall.
NFL decision-makers ranked Micah Parsons as the No. 3 EDGE rusher in the NFL going into 2025.
And one ranked him at No. 6…..https://t.co/0YiCfEeoNp pic.twitter.com/K6fpYpM0SI
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) July 9, 2025
Parsons is the second player in NFL history to produce 12 or more sacks in each of his first four pro seasons, but sure let’s keep saying he isn’t a game wrecker for the Cowboys.
Colin Cowherd has said 100 times this summer the Cowboys should trade him because half of his career sacks were against the Giants and Commanders.
Like dude, they play them more than any other team. What do you want him to do?
I really hope the front office gets a contract done with Parsons before the start of the year so he can just play football and not have to worry about it anymore.
Yes, he is going to make the most money out of any non-quarterback, but that is what happens when you wait.
Once he signs, then TJ Watt will probably get even more. Heck, they better get it done before that, if not the Dallas Cowboys are going to have no money, and better make a run this year in the playoffs.
Would be kinda crazy to trade your best player on defense. But I remember when Jimmy Johnson was HC, they traded Herschel Walker and that started a dynasty with the players they acquired. But I don’t think that will ever happen again. This current FO doesn’t appear to be that creative.
Those were different times!! There’s never gonna be a trade like that ever again!! That trade was the only one of its kind, and I’ll never understand how it happened or why a team would be so stupid to do a trade like that for a RB!! And to make it worse, Walker didn’t even play that good once he started playing for his new team!!
But you say the front office doesn’t appear to be that creative…. But it’s the same front office that signed off on the Walker trade to begin with!! It wasn’t all Jimmy that was involved in that trade, Jerry had his hands in it too!! So he can be creative!! But the problem is that there’s no team out there that’ll be dumb enough to give up that much capital to get one player in today’s NFL!! That’s why it’ll never happen!!
Football is not baseball . So, pass rush is not a separate act from overall defense like batting is totally separate from fielding.That is the Parsons problem. If there was a Pass Rush league, then Parsons would be great. Trouble is the game is Football and as a football defense player you cannot just cherry pick the pass rush stats and call that defense. As an overall defender, Parsons is a liability trying to play 3 downs as a edge on the line. He is a media darling and his 14 or less successful pass rush plays each season are so overvalued as to be absurd—14 or less successful pass rushes in a whole season. And since the game is not ‘hand grenades’ , close don’t really mean anything other than some agent made up ‘pressures’ to get more money. So, 14 or fewer–never more than that –and ONE sack in 4 playoff games . No, that is not worth the highest cost in football on defense especially when the other team gets to run the ball and no one talks of Parsons stopping the run.
Pay the man