NEW ORLEANS — If Saquon Barkley is the Large Who Used To Be, his shut buddy, Micah Parsons, is the Large Who By no means Was.
The Giants infamously handed on drafting Parsons in 2021, selecting to commerce out of the No. 11 decide and permit the Penn State star to slide to the Cowboys.
The Giants wound up choosing bust Kadarius Toney at No. 20 and potential bust Evan Neal with the additional first-round decide gained from the Bears.
“I’ll never forget it,” Parsons advised The Put up on Thursday at Tremendous Bowl 2025 radio row. “Honestly, playing next to Dexter Lawrence, I’d probably have 60 career sacks already. He’s a dawg.”
Contemplating Parsons already has 52.5 sacks in 4 seasons with the Cowboys, 60 just isn’t a stretch.
However the respect from Parsons to the ceaselessly double- and triple-teamed Lawrence throughout rivalry strains nonetheless holds — and serves as recommendation for Kayvon Thibodeaux.
“If I was Kayvon, I would line up to Dexter Lawrence’s side every time, make your best move every time,” Parsons stated. “You have to be a 10-sack guy. I would line up next to Dexter because there is no way they’ll put [just] two hands on Dexter Lawrence. You are talking about a nose tackle having nine sacks in nine games. You have to be serious.”
Parsons was selling the EA Sports activities Madden Bowl, which pits two gaming professional finalists towards one another with a $1 million prize purse Friday night time at The Orpheum Theater.
Parsons performs loads of Madden himself, but it surely’s protected to say he doesn’t choose the Giants as his crew after the draft night time debacle.
“The Giants lied to me,” Parsons later advised CBS Sports activities. “People don’t know this: They told me that if I fell to No. 11, they were going to pick me. I swear. That’s why I punish the Giants every time. It’s personal with them.”
Parsons’ feedback had been a reversal of what he beforehand has stated on not holding a draft-based grudge towards the Giants.
League sources advised The Put up on the time that the Giants — led by common supervisor Dave Gettleman and head coach Joe Choose — and different groups had questions on Parsons’ off-field character popping out and the hope was that he already can be off the board by No. 11.
The Cowboys traded from No. 10 to No. 12 and nonetheless landed Parsons, who was a part of three straight 12-5 seasons earlier than their step again in 2024 led to a change in coaches.
Former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer now calls the photographs as an alternative of Mike McCarthy.
“I don’t think anything is a surprise,” Parsons stated. “We tend to hire more familiar faces. We just want to play disciplined football. … At that point, you can win a lot of football games.”
Whereas the Giants and Cowboys missed the playoffs, the NFC East’s Eagles and Commanders met within the NFC Championship Recreation.
“We can turn it around quickly,” Parsons stated. “We beat playoff teams. Coulda, shoulda, woulda league, right? But we’re not a team that’s just some rollovers. We’re a contending team even without half of our [injured] starters. We’ve got some players, and we’re going to go play.”
