If you’re following the player podcast realm across professional sports, then you’ve probably come across Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons’ “The Edge” podcast.
While we can question whether it’s a good idea or not for someone on a team to sound off their innermost thoughts every week, what we can’t question is how fascinating it is to get insight into the mind of one of the NFL’s elite players week to week.
Following an upset win by the Cowboys over the Washington Commanders in Week 12, Parsons took time on his podcast to praise Washington’s rookie quarterback, Jayden Daniels.
“Jayden Daniels is nice as heck … he like I knew he was good but I didn’t know he was that good,” Parsons said on November 27. “Film doesn’t really explain how good he is. I said this to him in the game, I said … ‘I think you can be unstoppable.’
“… He’s as fast as Lamar (Jackson). I don’t think he’s as shifty, but he’s fast-fast. He’s up there with like Jalen Hurts, Kyler (Murray), Lamar. His game speed is serious. I don’t want to underestimate that … I think he can be a special quarterback on a really, really high level.”
While Daniels was very good in the loss, going 25-of-38 passing for 275 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions to go with 74 rushing yards and 1 touchdown, Parsons was dominant in the win with 8 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 TFL.
Commanders’ Daniels Finally Hits Rookie Wall
The Commanders were the NFL’s hottest team following a Week 9 win over the New York Giants pushed their record to 7-2 — the franchise’s best start since 1996.
Since then, the Commanders have lost 3 consecutive games and are now clinging to the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC headed into a Week 13 home game against the Tennessee Titans.
Daniels, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, has gone from an NFL MVP candidate and the shoo-in for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year to now being looked at as neck-and-neck with Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix for the latter.
“(Commanders) have fallen off the cliff,” The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz said on “The Ringer NFL Show” on November 27. “The offense is not what it once was. I think defenses have figured out how to take away what they’ve been doing with the RPO game on early downs, which has made things harder on third down, which has affected Jayden Daniels as we kind of expected.”
Parsons, Daniels Could Be Rivalry For Next Decade
It’s worth pointing out that this was the first meeting between Parsons and Daniels on any level — they never played against each other in college — and will play again in the final week of the regular season in Dallas.
It should be the start of a rivalry that could stretch over the next decade. Parsons is in just his fourth season with the Cowboys and is already a 3-time NFL All-Pro.
He’s also in line to become the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history following this season, with a chance to eclipse the 5-year, $170 million contract extension signed by San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa in September 2023.
