Free agency didn’t solve the Miami Dolphins’ edge defender issues. Serendipity might
Micah Parsons was born to play in Brian Flores’ defense.
The Penn State linebacker is a sideline-to-sideline wrecking ball who can line up at three different positions.
With representatives of the Miami Dolphins on-hand to get a close look, Parsons dazzled at his pro day Thursday, clocking a sub 4.4-second 40, putting up 19 bench-press reps and jumping 34 inches in the vertical leap at 6-3, 246.
Put another way, he reminded everyone just how special he is as an athlete, in case they forgot during his football sabbatical. Parsons won the Butkus-Fitzgerald Award as the Big Ten’s linebacker of the year and was a consensus All-American in 2019 before opting out the following season due to COVID-19.
That decision would end his college career; he declared for the draft and spent the past six months preparing for it.
Parsons is a no-doubt a first-round pick, and for a time, there was thought he would go in the top 5. That’s just how good he was in two years at Penn State.
And with the Dolphins in real need of help at edge defender/pass rusher, Parsons would make a ton of sense at 18, their second of two first-rounders.
“I think with Parsons, [he has] the ability to do everything,” said NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah. “Off the ball you can also rush him a little bit. As impressive as his range and instincts are against the run, to me it’s what he does in coverage. You see him cover tight ends up there at Penn State. You see him cover backs. I would have loved to have seen him this year, but I get it, he put so much good stuff on tape in ‘19 that he made the decision that he did.”
Jeremiah continued: “Just really week to week you could change his role and how you want to use him. I think he’s got a chance to be a really good rusher, too, if you even just wanted to cut him loose and let him do some of that stuff. That would be one that would be kind of interesting there.”
Again, if this sounds familiar, it should. Flores values versatility in a defender perhaps above all other traits. The idea of using Parsons as the ultimate chess piece surely appeals to him.
“I just feel I’m the most versatile player in this class,” Parsons said Thursday. “I can play middle linebacker, I can play outside and I can pass rush. There’s no place I can’t play and utilize my skills. I’m going to make plays at the next level just like I did at Penn State.”
The only problem to this plan: third is probably too high to take Parsons, and 18th might be too low. Parsons is the No. 10 prospect on Jeremiah’s big board, behind only Trevor Lawrence, Ja’Marr Chase, Kyle Pitts, Zach Wilson, Caleb Farley, Jaylen Waddle, Rashawn Slater, DeVonta Smith and Penei Sewell.
If the Dolphins stay put at 3, the prevailing belief is they will take the highest-rated skill position player on their board.
But while wide receiver remains a need, it’s not as pressing of one as it was two weeks ago, before they signed Will Fuller and Robert Foster. Those two, plus the return of Albert Wilson, give the Dolphins speed they lacked in 2020.
That means the Dolphins taking a defensive player with their first pick cannot be ruled out — but only if they trade down. Parsons would be a huge stretch at 3, but not so much at 8 or 9 — picks belonging to quarterback-needy Carolina and Denver.
The Panthers and Broncos are among the teams who were reportedly in on the Deshaun Watson derby, but given Watson’s ever-growing legal issues, a trade to any team any time soon seems unlikely. So that makes the Dolphins’ top draft pick all the more valuable. There are four quarterbacks expected to go in the top 10. Some team who needs one will make the Dolphins an offer.
There’s one other factor that could work in Miami’s favor: Parsons’ reputation isn’t pristine either.
Perhaps they could get a top-5 talent with the 18th overall pick. It’s not that far-fetched of an idea.
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein has Parsons falling all the way to 29th in his latest mock draft over “character concerns,” which likely alludes to Parsons’ inclusion in a 2020 university report regarding a Title IX inquiry into the Nittany Lions program.
Former defensive back Isaiah Humphries accused Parsons and others of sexual harassment, hazing and violence, including choking.
Parsons also had to transfer from one Harrisburg, Pa., area school to another after being accused, in the words of his father in 2016, of “inciting a riot.”
“Obviously, people had some concerns about things that had happened,” Parsons said. “But at the end of the day, I believe that I was a kid. I was 17-18. We all made mistakes when we were 17-18. I’m not going to let it control or dictate the person I am now. I’m not going to let something that happened four years ago dictate who I’m becoming and the father I want to be.
“Everyone learns and grows. I’m pretty sure none of you are making the same mistakes you made when you were 17 or 18 or even 25,” he continued. “If someone is going to judge me over that, then I would rather not be in their program. I know the type of person I’m becoming. I know the type of father I’m becoming. That’s all that matters to me. Anybody who is willing to accept my wrongs when I was wrong and my rights when I was right, I’m ready to give them my all. But if it’s going to come down to something I did in high school, I can only control what I can control moving forward. That’s how I feel about it.”
The Dolphins of course will investigate all of these incidents (if they haven’t already). As an organization, they will decide whether Parsons truly has grown up in the years since.
But Flores has repeatedly shown a willingness to give troubled players a second chance and a fresh start in Miami. Parsons’ unicorn ability might convince the Dolphins to take on another reclamation project.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 7:44 AM.
