Cowboys pass rusher looks to join elite company in NFL history

It’s week 16 of the 2024 NFL season, and it’s time to start thinking about which of our friends will be hosting the Christmas Day NFL games, but not before enjoying the holiday morning with our family and loved ones.

Christmas is also the signal that the NFL playoffs are just around the corner. While the Dallas Cowboys don’t have a chance this season, it will still be fun to root for the underdogs and pray that the Philadelphia Eagles make an early exit.

Nearing the end of the regular season is a time when we can start monitoring stats closely to see which records could be broken, both single-season and all-time records. As luck would have it, Dallas Cowboys DE Micah Parsons is looking to join elite company in NFL history.

With 1.5 more sacks this season and three games left to go, Parsons has a chance to become just the fifth player in NFL history to start each of his first four seasons with double-digit sacks. The previous four players on that prestigious list currently have busts in Canton, Ohio. You might have heard of Claude Humphrey, Reggie White, Derrick Thomas, and Dwight Freeney.

How Does Micah Compare?

Parsons started his career in 2021 by taking the league by storm. Injuries along the defensive line forced Micah to fill in at defensive end, and the rest is history. In his rookie year, he recorded 13.0 sacks and was awarded with several accolades: AP 1st team All-Pro, Pro Bowl, AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, and he was also second in AP Defensive Player of the Year voting behind T.J. Watt.

Micah incrementally increased that sack total to 13.5 and 14.0 in 2022 and 2023, and it currently sits at 8.5 in 2024. If he just reaches the minimum 10.0, his career total will be 51.5. It is impressive that he is even in the conversation after missing four games earlier this year with a high ankle sprain.

If we use the value of sacks per games played this season for Parsons, he projects to finish the season with 11.0 sacks, the lowest single-season total of his career.

The Field

I’ll be honest with you. I am a student of the NFL game, and I can rattle off obscure NFL facts and widgets like the entire Dallas Cowboys starting lineup for any given season since 1992 with a confident 85% accuracy. However, I had never heard of Claude Humphrey.

Humphrey was the first to accomplish the feat that Micah is aiming for, accumulating 45.0 sacks over the first four years of his Hall of Fame career as a defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles.

He started with 11.5 sacks as AP Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1968, then followed that up with 10.5 and 10.0 before 13.0 in that fourth and final season for this record. He went on to record five more double-digit sack seasons, topping out at 15.5 in 1980, and 130.0 for his career.

The great Reggie White was the next to hit double-digit sacks in his first four seasons. Drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles, White racked up a whopping 70.0 sacks between 1985 and 1988. He topped out in 1987 as the AP Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league with 21.0 sacks.

White was voted to the AP All-Pro team every season of his career except his rookie season and the final season of his career as a member of the Carolina Panthers. He finished his career with 198.0 sacks and 12 double-digit sack seasons.

The late Derrick Thomas was the third player to record double-digit sacks in his first four seasons. Playing for the Kansas City Chiefs, Thomas accumulated 58.0 sacks between 1989 and 1992, and had 20.0 in his second season to earn AP 1st Team All-Pro honors.

Thomas’ career was cut short after succumbing to injuries in an auto accident after the 1999 season. He ended up with 126.5 sacks in 11 NFL seasons.

The most recent player to have double-digit sacks in the first four seasons of his career is former Indianapolis Colts DE Dwight Freeney. Freeney started his career with 13.0 sacks, just like Micah Parsons.

His top season of the first four was 16.0 in year three, and he finished the four-year run with 51.0 sacks before ultimately finishing his 16-year career with 125.5 total sacks.