Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons had quite the dominant first two seasons in the NFL.

Parsons burst onto the scene in his rookie campaign. He won the 2021 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award, and he finished in second place in the voting for the 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year honor. The former Penn State standout went on to tally 13.5 sacks in 17 regular season games played this past year.

Parsons’ strong start to his NFL career came as no surprise to many coaches in the Cowboys organization. For one, Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn had a front-row seat to watch Parsons simply have his way against opposing offensive lineman in training camp ahead of the 2021 campaign, which the second-year linebacker touched on during a recent appearance on Sportsradio 96.7 FM’s “The Hardline Ticketstock” show.

“So, then I went to the pros, and then I got to Dan Quinn, and he was like, ‘You can blitz, right?' and I told him I could, and he was like, ‘Well, I’m going to line you up right here,'” Parsons said. “And then we did, and I was dominating.

“Then we went to camp, he put me against some guys that walked on, I was crushing them. They put me against some backups, I was crushing them.”

Parsons did not win every single one of his line of scrimmage battles ahead of the 2021 season. He had his fair share of struggles against Cowboys offensive tackle Tyron Smith, but this experience sure helped him become the player he is today.

“They put me against Tyron Smith and I just felt like I hit a brick wall,” Parsons said. “I said, ‘Okay, we got work to do.’ But we had a base point, and that’s when I realized everyone’s not Tyron Smith. Because after that, I said, let me go over here and I started working on winning.

“And then I got to the regular season, I just realized everyone was not, you know, Zack Martin or Tyron Smith, and I was like, ‘Okay, this isn’t as hard as I thought.'”

Parsons has recorded 26.5 sacks in 33 total games played in the NFL.