(By Santiago Rubio)

The Dallas Cowboys were one of the worst defensive teams during the 2020 season, allowing 29.9 points per game and 473 points overall throughout the season, breaking a franchise record for most points allowed. This came as a surprise for most Cowboys fans, as they expected their young defense to be an important part of the teams success on McCarthy’s first season, unfortunately, the defense was a disaster thanks to the season ending injuries of Sean Lee and Leighton Vander Esch and a significantly low performance secondary, this led to the firing of defensive coordinator Mike Nolan after a very disappointing season.

Now the Cowboys are looking to get back to the playoffs and they are hoping that their defense will be key in their comeback season. Dallas started making moves as soon as the off-season started when they hired the ex-Falcons head coach Dan Quinn as their new defensive coordinator, he will be the one in charge of a very young but tough defense that will be adding a new young linebacker to the team, as the first move in the Dan Quinn era in Dallas was picking Micah Parsons as their first draft pick in the 2021 Draft.

Parsons is a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania native who was picked 12th overall in the draft despite not playing on the 2020 season due to covid-19 concerns, instead, Parsons decided to use that time to prepare for the draft. He is a 21 year old l with the ability to play as a middle linebacker or as an exterior one. Standing 6’2’ and weighing 252 lbs Parsons is a fast and elusive player with a great ability to get behind the line of scrimmage and get to the ball quickly. According to many experts, Parsons has a rare ability that not many players in his class have, which is having a good instinct to detect where the play is going to, and that is what made him such a great player at Penn State, earning him an All-American mention during the 2019 season.

This pick can be interpreted in many ways, some say it was just because Parsons was the best overall player left in the draft at the moment of the pick, others say it was a necessity, as the starter linebacker and defensive leader Sean Lee announced his retirement from the NFL earlier this year, and now the Cowboys are looking to build a young defensive core to help them get back to the limelight this following season. Parsons will be joining an already mentioned young linebacker group, mainly led by Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, both 25 years old.

Parsons talent is undoubtedly one of the best in the last few years, he is considered to be a one in a generation talent and that is why the Cowboys picked him so early in the draft, and now it is his job to prove that he is able to keep having great performances now on Sundays, as he looks help America’s team to erase a terrible 2020 season.

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