Mike McCarthy discusses Micah Parsons' transition to the NFL

Micah Parsons is having a tremendous rookie season for the Dallas Cowboys and is in conversation for Defensive Rookie of the Year. His head coach had some good things to say about him on Tuesday.

Parsons had a great career with Penn State before going to the Cowboys in the NFL Draft. The Cowboys took him with the 12th overall pick and he’s been lights-out this season with nine sacks and 67 total tackles in 11 games.

But it’s not easy to adjust from playing at Penn State to playing for “America’s Team.” Dallas coach Mike McCarthy is most impressed with how Parsons handled the transition, though.

“It’s very different working for the Dallas Cowboys,” McCarthy said, via The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “It’s a spotlight like none other, regardless if you’re a first-round pick or a free agent. Once you have the opportunity to perform and you do perform at a high level, that spotlight only gets brighter. … I look for him to be a great player in this league for a long time. But great players make everyone else around them better, so that’s the part that you have to learn.

“It’s development, and he’s very fortunate to have the Dak Prescotts of the world in our locker room to give him the guidance and be an excellent example of what the expectation of him is that’s needed for our team to be as successful as we want to be and obviously for him to reach the goals that he has for himself personally.”

In two years at Penn State before opting out of 2020, Parsons had 191 career tackles and 6.5 sacks in 26 games. Parsons and the Cowboys have lost their last two games, but will try to snap that skid against the New Orleans Saints Dec. 2 on Thursday Night Football.

Cowboys rookie Micah Parsons makes history with overtime sack vs. Raiders

Micah Parsons has clearly been one of the most dominant rookies in the NFL this season. His stat line makes an argument that the first-year NFL player is one of the top defenders in all of the league in general.

While the Dallas Cowboys fell short after a gritty fourth-quarter comeback, there was a bright spot. Despite the heartbreaking loss to the Las Vegas Raiders to spoil Thanksgiving for Dallas fans, Parsons inked his name in the record books with a crucial overtime sack of Raiders’ quarterback Derek Carr.

No matter the moment or situation, the former Penn State star has delivered time and time again this season.

Midway through overtime, Las Vegas was driving. On 2nd-and-11, Parsons lined up like a defensive end and completely outmatched the right tackle, eventually taking Carr to the ground. The Raiders were out of field goal range, but a controversial pass interference call on the next play allowed them to eventually win.

Parsons entered the game with 60 tackles and 8.0 sacks in his team’s first 10 games of a season, a stat line that hadn’t been delivered since Terrell Suggs in 2013. He’s also the first player with 60 tackles and 8.0 sacks in his first 10 career games since 2000.