Cowboys' Micah Parsons gets chance to make Giants regret passing him up
Cowboys rookie linebacker Micah Parsons is also playing on the defensive line, cornerback and safety and has 2.5 sacks and 17 quarterback pressures in three games. Credit: Getty Images/Harry How
When the Giants were leapfrogged by the Eagles in the race to select wide receiver DeVonta Smith in the first round of this spring’s draft, Micah Parsons was still available to them. Instead of selecting the Penn State linebacker with the next pick, though, they decided to trade back with the Bears. The Cowboys, with the pick after that, selected Parsons.
On Sunday, the Giants will get their first chance to see what they might have missed out on had Parsons become their consolation prize that day. Parsons is tearing it up as an omnipresent defender for Dallas, playing snaps on the defensive line, linebacker, cornerback and safety with 2.5 sacks and 17 quarterback pressures.
Not that the Giants need to wait for Sunday to get a sense of what Parsons can do. They knew it when they passed on him.
"He’s an elite player," Joe Judge said. "I think the one thing I picked up on him when I went to the pro day at Penn State and you stand next to him, he’s a big man. That’s the one thing I told the team is this guy on tape sometimes doesn’t look as big as he is. He’s a big guy, he’s strong and he’s explosive. You watch this guy play, he’s very athletic, he has really, really good instincts.
"I think this guy is going to be one of the elite players in the league for a long time."
And if he stays with Dallas, one of the toughest players they face twice a year for a long time.
So why did the Giants not select Parsons?
"Our decisions for our team were big-picture," Judge said of the trade and eventual selection of wide receiver Kadarius Toney with the 20th overall pick. "Our decision had nothing to do with [Parson’s] impact as a player. We just make the best decision for the team."
Sunday will be the first time they’ll get a taste of whether they in fact did.
Notes & quotes: WR Kenny Golladay was listed as limited by a groin injury on Wednesday, his third different ailment of the season. He’d previously been dealing with hamstring and hip issues . . . The Giants had a walk-through workout but projected S Jabrill Peppers (hamstring), WR Sterling Shepard (hamstring), WR Darius Slayton (hamstring), TE Kaden Smith (knee) and DL Leonard Williams (knee) as non-participants. WR C.J. Board, who left Sunday’s game with a clavicle injury, was a full participant.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
