Cowboys Rookie Class: 2 Get Honored, 1 Gets COVID
FRISCO - Dallas Cowboys rookie Micah Parsons has a chance to be “All-Everything.” So his inclusion on Gil Brandt’s 2021 All-Rookie Team is an easy call.
Just as interesting: Osa Odighizuwa joining Parsons on the honors team.
And a sidebar for Sunday’s game against visiting Arizona: another promising rookie, defensive tackle Quinton Bohanna, has tested positive for COVID and won't play Sunday.
Hopefully the rest of the rookie class will make it to Sunday …
Here’s Brandt on third-round pick Odighizuwa: "He ranks just behind (Christian) Barmore among rookie DTs in QB pressures (26), stops (21) and tackles (31) ...''
Here’s Brandt on Parsons: “The No. 12 overall pick isn’t just having one of the best rookie defensive seasons in recent memory; it would also count as an all-time campaign for any player of any experience level. In fact, only seven other players in NFL history have accumulated 13-plus sacks, 75-plus tackles, three-plus passes defensed and three-plus forced fumbles in the same season, like Parsons has …
“Talent-wise, he compares to legendary defensive force Lawrence Taylor. In other words, Parsons is really special. His Pro Bowl berth is likely to be just the first honor at the beginning of what could become a Hall of Fame career down the road.”
Brandt (see his 2021 Defensive All-Rookie Team) is of course a Hall of Famer in his own right, the original “super scout” in helping build the “America’s Team” talent base from the start of the Dallas franchise. He remains highly plugged into all things NFL and his analysis here speaks volumes about the 2021 talent base of the Cowboys, in particular in this case on this vastly improved Cowboys defense. Some of the same personnel is present in this group that was also a part of the awful 2020 Dallas defense.
But the maturation of some of those young players - second-year guys Trevon Diggs and Neville Gallimore in particular - combined with Parsons and Osa and this class (with Bohanna and cornerback Kelvin Joseph and others maybe coming on strong) could lead Dallas not only to individual honors … but to team-wide honors as well.
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