Prior to the NFL Draft, our favorite Cowboys fan said Dallas drafting Micah Parsons would “terrify” him

What led to the Philadelphia Eagles making their first-round pick on Thursday night was pretty unexpected.

It certainly wasn’t unthinkable to see the Dallas Cowboys trade down from No. 10 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft after missing out on both Jaycee Horn and Patrick Surtain II.

But to trade their pick to the Eagles?! Their NFC East rivals? Don’t think anyone saw that coming.

It was a glorious moment for Philly fans, too, as the Cowboys helped the Birds pick up the best player available on the board. And a fan favorite to boot!

In fairness to Dallas, it’s not like the Eagles fleeced them. The Cowboys got a good return for only moving down two spots. The difference between No. 10 and No. 12 in the NFL draft pick value chart is 100 points. The pick the Eagles gave up at No. 84 is worth 170 points. That 70-point difference in the Cowboys’ favor is equivalent to No. 112 overall, which is 17 picks deep in the fourth round.

And the Cowboys ended up drafting who some believe to be the best defensive prospect in this year’s class: Micah Parsons. There’s a chance he really excels in Dallas.

Then again, there are reservations to be had. Parsons has faced some serious accusations. There’s also the question of positional value, which is something the Cowboys haven’t always done a great job with (see: Ezekiel Elliott and Jaylon Smith picks/contracts).

Funny enough, prior to this year’s draft, Parsons is a player that secret Eagles fan our favorite Cowboys fan, RJ Ochoa from Blogging The Boys, mentioned as the player he’d least like to see Dallas take in the first round. The following transcript comes from a conversation we had on NFC East Mixtape earlier this week:

“I wanted to say Micah Parsons. I mentioned the Cowboys held their pre-draft press conference on Tuesday. And they have really dodged all questions about picking up Leighton Vander Esch’s fifth-year option, which they have to do next week obviously. And I don’t think they’re going to do it, it’s just my own personal opinion, because you’re seeing all these other fifth-year options getting picked up like left and right. Stephen Jones said on the radio Monday they’re going to talk about it after the draft. Like, dude, you can be honest. You’re not gonna do it. There’s like three days between the draft and the deadline. So, Micah Parsons would really feel like trying to make amends. And the Cowboys have been awful drafting linebackers. I mean, Leighton Vander Esch aside, they took Jaylon Smith at the 34th overall pick five years ago. So, that would really terrify me in terms of just overall sunk cost at one position.”

Wow. That’s really just too bad.

In the interest of being fair, I reached out to RJ after the Parsons pick to see if he stood by what he originally said. He did add that the trade down changes the calculus for him:

“Admittedly I was hesitant on the idea of Micah Parsons, but the fact that the Cowboys got sniped at cornerback right before they picked changed the circumstances substantially. It’s clear that Parsons was their most-preferred option after that, and they managed to land him while picking up extra draft capital. What’s more is the Cowboys sent DeVonta Smith to the NFC East team that THEY preferred by trading with Philadelphia. It’s clear and obvious that the Cowboys don’t see a future with Jaylon Smith and/or Leighton Vander Esch, but they are clearly committed to fixing that. That’s something.”

Sure enough, Cowboys fans on BTB are all talking themselves into the pick. And, who knows, maybe it’ll work out great for them.

Or maybe he won’t be moving the needle too much for a defense that’s going to get roasted by a great player that the Cowboys helped the Eagles acquire.

Really looking forward to talking about this and more with RJ on next week’s NFC East Mixtape! Streaming on both the BGN and BTB podcast feeds.

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