Micah Parsons is one of the NFL’s best pass rushers, but he also thinks he could be one of the NFL’s best kickoff returners. And Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel agrees.
Fassel says Parsons has asked to return kickoffs in Dallas, but that it’s not up to Fassel and that the higher-ups aren’t going to risk an injury to a player as important as Parsons on special teams.
“You know Micah. He has lobbied me in the past to just be the primary kickoff returner,” Fassel told Ross Tucker of the Ross Tucker Football Podcast. “I’m like, ‘Micah, that’s a question you’ve got to go a little further up than me on that one.’ But would I love to see him back there? Absolutely, because he would be fantastic. He would catch it and he’d run wild and he’d probably get incredible yards. But that ain’t going to happen. I’m aware of that.”
Fassel also thinks Parsons would be outstanding in kickoff coverage, especially with the new rules that Fassel believes are perfect for the kind of player who can blow past a blocker and make a tackle the way Parsons can.
“Put him on the kickoff side? Absolutely,” Fassel said. “I remember watching Micah on kickoff coverage at Penn State as a freshman because I was scouting Nick Scott, a player we drafted to the Rams. . . . I was like, ‘Who is that guy on kickoff’ when he was a freshman. Then, you know, you look him up, I don’t know who he is, but he’ll probably be all right some day. Micah has asked about being a primary kickoff returner, that hasn’t been allowed yet, probably not going to be allowed unless you say, ‘Hey, in the game we’re down by six and there’s eight seconds left in the game and we got to score a touchdown and kickoff return to win it?’ Maybe we put Micah back there as a second returner.”