Over the past several years, Dallas Cowboys defensive superstar Micah Parsons has emerged as one of the most dominant pass rushers in the entire NFL. But it sounds like he wants to try his hand at another role for the Cowboys: kickoff returner.
During a recent interview on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast, Dallas Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel revealed that Micah Parsons approached him about becoming the team’s primary kickoff returner.
“You know Micah. He has lobbied me in the past to just be the primary kickoff returner,” Fassel told Ross Tucker according to Pro Football Talk. “I’m like, ‘Micah, that’s a question you’ve got to go a little further up than me on that one.’ But would I love to see him back there? Absolutely, because he would be fantastic. He would catch it and he’d run wild and he’d probably get incredible yards. But that ain’t going to happen. I’m aware of that.”
But Fassel did see a possibility of using Parsons on special teams in some capacity given the NFL’s recent rule changes.
“Put him on the kickoff side? Absolutely,” Fassel said. “I remember watching Micah on kickoff coverage at Penn State as a freshman because I was scouting Nick Scott, a player we drafted to the Rams. . . . I was like, ‘Who is that guy on kickoff’ when he was a freshman. Then, you know, you look him up, I don’t know who he is, but he’ll probably be all right some day. Micah has asked about being a primary kickoff returner, that hasn’t been allowed yet, probably not going to be allowed unless you say, ‘Hey, in the game we’re down by six and there’s eight seconds left in the game and we got to score a touchdown and kickoff return to win it?’ Maybe we put Micah back there as a second returner.”
We’ll have to see whether or not we see Parsons on the kickoff team. But it’s pretty clear we won’t see him on kick return.
