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Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas — For the first time this offseason, Micah Parsons was on the field practicing with teammates, but he said he does not believe his absence will impact team chemistry or his ability to lead.
Parsons opted to spend the voluntary portion of the offseason program working out on his own, but he took part in the first day of the mandatory minicamp Tuesday.
“I would say, ever watch ‘Remember the Titans?'” Parsons said. “We’re going to be in Oxnard a very, very long time. There’s going to be a lot of chemistry in that building. That’s really the time where you see everything. Like it’s hard to really teach someone without pads or true contact or hand points. It’s just not realistic when you can’t even touch [someone] or we’re going to lose a draft pick. It’s just, it’s outrageous. Right now it’s more technique. It’s a lot of walkthroughs. So from my position, where I’m at, it’s a lot of individual and I can do individual by myself or with my trainer.”
After the Cowboys’ wild-card round loss to the Green Bay Packers in January, Parsons said he wanted to change the culture and become more of a leader as he enters his fourth season. Coach Mike McCarthy has been supportive of Parsons’ chances to experience different things, like sumo wrestling in Japan, but said Parsons has missed an opportunity to grow as a leader.
Parsons said there are other ways to lead outside of a locker room. He mentioned he went on a trip to Colombia with teammates Chauncey Golston and Sam Williams. He mentioned being around the rookies in the offseason.
Parsons is also being asked to learn a new defense with Mike Zimmer replacing Dan Quinn at coordinator. Parsons had meetings with run game coordinator Paul Guenther. On Tuesday, Parsons was lined up in multiple spots along the defensive front.
“Defense is defense. I’m pretty much caught up on everything,” Parsons said. “I really wasn’t missing anything so I feel like I was just getting better, getting stronger, faster. Just doing my things and what Micah does in the offseason.”
Parsons had an extremely close relationship with Quinn, but said he has “probably had a total of 20 words,” with Zimmer.
“He’s a very quiet person and all I keep hearing from the coaches is, ‘Zim likes it this way.’ Well, I was like, ‘I like it this way.’ So I can’t wait to have my true sit down with him. I think that will be pretty cool. Because obviously old-school mindset, old-school mentality. I think he’s had a lot of great players, but he ain’t never have a Micah before. So it’ll be fun. And I think it’s going to be unique. There’s a lot of similarities in things in [how he was used under Quinn], but he has more tweaks and turns of how he’s going to set things up. There’s some things I’ve got to get used to, too. It’s going to be a [compromising] relationship.”
While CeeDee Lamb is sitting out of the minicamp and facing potential fines of more than $101,000 as he awaits a new contract, Parsons, who has finished second twice and third once in Defensive Player of the Year voting in three seasons, is not worried.
“I mean, one day. Time will tell. I can’t really put a timetable on mine,” Parsons said. “All I’ve got to do is keep getting sacks and that will handle itself.”