Micah Parsons, as an off-the-ball linebacker, had promising stats that led him into the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys. Before coming to the league, Parsons recorded 100 solo tackles and 6.5 sacks in 26 games for Penn State. The momentum continued in his rookie season in 2021 when Parsons posted 64 solo tackles and 13.0 sacks. However, in the following season, the Cowboys changed Parsons’ position, which visibly angered Broncos legend Mark Schlereth.

“I think there’s a way to use Micah Parsons the way I always believed he should be used,” said Schlereth on The Stinkin Truth Podcast. “And that is to put him in multiple areas. Have him on the defensive end at one position, like at one point, have him rushing the passer from defensive end. Have him as the middle linebacker, rushing the passer from there. And have him as an outside linebacker dropping into his own, using him to free up other guys.

Those things matter, and then you really start screwing with an offense of how we’re going to protect against this guy. I’ve always thought that when Dan Quinn left Dallas, and Dallas decided to move him just to a defensive end spot, I thought they completely mismanaged him.”

Micah Parsons played in a flexible role with the Dallas Cowboys. He began his career alternating frequently between an off-ball linebacker (dropping into coverage and stopping the run) and a blitzing edge rusher. His immediate success rushing the passer earned him the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

However, under defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Parsons was moved almost exclusively on the line of scrimmage. By his final seasons in Dallas, over 87% of his snaps came as a defensive end/edge rusher, rarely dropping back into traditional linebacker coverage. But with that change in position, certain drawbacks also followed.

At 245 pounds when entering the NFL, Parsons was undersized compared to traditional 260+ pound defensive ends. So, clashing against 300-pound offensive linemen on every snap took a severe physical toll on Parsons. Not just that, moving Parsons exclusively to the line of scrimmage made it much easier for opposing offenses to account for him. When he was a hybrid off-ball linebacker, offenses never knew where he would rush from.

However, the Cowboys had their reasons behind making this call. Starting DE, DeMarcus Lawrence’s foot injury in the 2021 season, along with fellow edge rusher Randy Gregory’s COVID-19 complications, forced defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to experiment with Micah Parsons at that position.

But when Parsons settled in as an edge rusher, the Cowboys fixed that role for him. According to the three-time Super Bowl champion, Mark Schlereth, that was a wrong move. He thinks they limited Parsons’ game-breaking potential while making it easier for opposing coordinators to map out, double-team, and neutralize him.

As an edge rusher, Parsons recorded 52.0 sacks along with 127 combined tackles in 65 games for Dallas, and appeared quite happy playing that position. But when the Cowboys triggered his fifth-year option under the lower financial baseline designation of a defensive end rather than a linebacker, it pushed Parsons to leave Dallas.

Parsons would have made $21.3 million as a defensive end for the 2025 season if he had played under this option. However, he argued that he was a linebacker and should earn around $24 million. The contract dispute eventually led to a standoff between Parsons and the Cowboys. And ultimately triggered his trade to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for DT Kenny Clark and two first-round draft picks.