'I'm The Anchor': Which Young Cowboys Lineman Has Micah Parsons Raving?

Parsons has high hopes for a fellow 2021 draftee.

Having burst onto the national professional football season as a rookie, earning All-Pro honors in his first season, Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons wants to take one of his draft classmates with him. 

Parsons played scout and prophet in some of his final comments before the Cowboys battle the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their 2022-23 kickoff on Sunday night (7:20 p.m. CT, NBC). As Dallas prepares to face the Tom Brady-led Tampa offense, one that put up 431 yards against them in last season's opener, Parsons said that "Big Q,'' referring to draft classmate Quinton Bohanna, would answer the Big Q over who's the next to rise on the Dallas defense.

"I think he’s going to make a huge jump this year," Parsons said. "(He can) be a dominant force for us."

Parsons was explaining how the Dallas defense, capable of forcing turnovers but prone to giving up yards in bunches, could "set a standard of how defense should be played." Bohanna, a sixth-round defensive tackle in 2021, wasn't exactly a mainstay on the Cowboys' line, appearing on only 24 percent of defensive snaps. Some even felt he'd have to fight for his roster spot with fellow interior man John Ridgeway chosen in last spring's fifth round. 

But Bohanna kept his roster spot and then some, appearing as one of the top interior threats alongside Osa Odighizuwa on the Dallas depth chart. He'll look up to shore up a mediocre Dallas run defense that struggled to contain big rushes, allowing 4.5 yards per attempt and 169 in their failed playoff cameo against San Francisco in January.

Bohanna recently told CowboysSI.com, "I'm the anchor,'' is about to be asked to do more.

Time will tell how Bohanna responds to the expanded opportunity. But it appears he's got a special set of eyes keeping an eye on his development in addition to the Cowboys' coaches. 

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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