The 2024 NFL regular season gave the Dallas Cowboys the right to boast about defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers. Regardless of the outcome of that game, however, it’s likely reasonable to assume that Micah Parsons, the linebacker for the Cowboys, would not be pleased with T.J. Watt.
Last offseason, Parsons insisted that voters had appropriately selected Myles Garrett, an edge rusher for the Cleveland Browns, as the league’s 2023 Defensive Player of the Year. In terms of pure pass rushing, Parsons actually put Garrett, himself, Nick Bosa of the San Francisco 49ers, and Maxx Crosby of the Las Vegas Raiders higher than Watt.
Watt was once more left off of Parsons’ ranking of the top five pure pass rushers in the NFL on February 5.
We all move around, if you look at what Myles [Garrett] and I do. I play nose and right tackle. “I play both left guard and right guard,” Parsons said to Zach Gelb of Infinity Sports Network. When it comes to pure pass rushers, there are probably just a handful of us who are truly exceptional, while the others are essentially simply elite rushers.
“They lack adaptability. They are stationary. They don’t arrange games.
Where the league is right now, in my opinion, is a pure pass rusher. Come on, buddy, I mean. It’s not even close, in my opinion.
Parsons cited Trey Hendrickson of the Cincinnati Bengals and Danielle Hunter of the Houston Texans as superior pure pass rushers over Watt in his interview with Gelb.
Micah Parsons Differentiates Between Defensive Players and Pass Rushers
It appears that Parsons’ reasoning for leaving Watt off of his ranking of the best pure pass rushers in the NFL is based on semantics.
Watt will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Cowboys All-Pro acknowledged. He went on to say that Watt is among the greatest football players of all time and is among the league’s top five defensive players.
“How he generates turnovers.” Regarding Watt, Parsons remarked, “He does things on the field that are unmatched.” “He’s a pure pass rusher, but I think he’s in the top five defensive football players.”
In one way, Watt does a lot of things well, so it’s a reasonable argument. He was among the top edge rushers in run defense in 2024, per Pro Football Focus. According to the PFF player grades, he also performed exceptionally well in covering.
Watt’s strongest quality, though, is pass rushing. He has led the NFL in sacks for three consecutive seasons because of this. In the history of the league, no other defender has ever done it.
Among edge rushers that participated in at least 50% of his team’s defensive snaps in 2024, Watt was ranked with the fourth-best pass rushing grade by PFF. Hendrickson, Garrett, and Parsons were only a hair ahead of him.
Most significantly, though, Watt was in the top five.
Watt Is Being Penalized by Parsons for Not Using Pass Rush Disguise?
Watt frequently lines up at the same location on defense, which appears to be Parsons’ second problem with his style of play. Parsons is right; Watt typically sets up over the opposing right tackle.
Once more, however, Parsons’ argument is based on semantics. A “pure” pass rusher is a player who is so naturally gifted that he consistently outperforms the competition in the same manner.
Parsons seems to imply that his and Garrett’s success is largely the result of their ability to blend in by lining up in various spots on the field.
By doing that, Parsons sets up games, maybe ones that are better for his teammates. Watt hasn’t had to exert that much pressure on the Steelers, though. Once more, he is nearly always in the same location, and opposition teams still find it difficult to stop him.
Ironically, Watt had a poor season by his standards and stated that he will be more willing to line up in other positions moving ahead following the 2024 campaign. Watt, however, recorded 11.5 sacks during his “down season.” Parsons had 12 in 2024.
Watt has 108 sacks, more than any other defensive since joining the NFL in 2017.
With 60 sacks over the last four seasons, Garrett leads the NFL, while Watt comes in second with 58.5. With 52.5 sacks throughout that same time, Parsons stands in sixth place.
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