Micah Parsons has been in the NFL for three seasons, and he has been one of the small handful of best defensive players in the league in all three of them. Parsons has finished second, second, and third in Defensive Player of the Year voting in his three campaigns, racking up 13.5, 13.5, and 14 sacks while checking in second in the NFL in total pressures (260, behind only Maxx Crosby) and leading the league in pressure rate during that time.
In each of those three seasons, Parsons' defensive coordinator has been Dan Quinn, whose arrival in Dallas coincided with Parsons', as well as the team's turnaround from being one of the worst defenses in football to one of the best. In 2024, Parsons will be coached by a new coordinator for the first time.
The Cowboys hired former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer to succeed Quinn, and Parsons has already spoken with a couple of Zimmer's former players about their experience.
"I'm excited," Parsons said during an appearance on The Stephen A. Smith Show, per The Dallas Morning News. "Anthony Barr reached out to me, told me how good [Zimmer] is. Danielle Hunter talked to me [about] how good he is. Man, I'm just excited for a fresh start really.
"Not that I don't miss Dan [Quinn] or won't miss him, because I love Dan. You know I love Dan -- like [an] uncle, father, friend. However you want to look at it. Dope dude, wish him all the success in Washington, except for against the Dallas Cowboys."
As for what he expects from the Zimmer era, Parsons was clear. "I just want to play winning football. I want everybody to be accountable. I want everybody locked in," he said. "What I hear is Zimmer's one of them guys that's gonna have everybody accountable. ... I just want a fresh start. I just want to change the culture, identity of the Dallas Cowboys and win a championship."
Dallas has won 12 games in each of Parsons' three seasons but has yet to make it past the divisional round. The Cowboys were embarrassed (particularly on defense) by the Green Bay Packers on their home field in the wild card round this year, leading to speculation that the team would make massive changes. Instead, Mike McCarthy is returning for a lame duck year, and the defensive staff was only swapped out after Quinn landed a head-coaching position elsewhere. The Cowboys will have to hope that Zimmer's influence on the defense can help push them past the road blocks they have come up against over the past several years.
