Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons has never been shy about speaking his mind. And he's never been shy about the fact that he considers himself the best at what he does. So it's perhaps not surprising that, when speaking to Los Angeles Rams star Myles Garrett on his The Edge podcast, Parsons got a little bit controversial with some of his takes.
Parsons and Garrett had a long, spirited exchange about who is the best at doing what they are both asked to do, and they got into it on several different fronts. You can watch the full clip on Instagram, but here's the back-and-forth trash talk between the two stars: Parsons: "I still doing things that none of y'all do." Parsons: "You, Will [Anderson Jr.], rest of the league." Audience member: "[Garrett] just broke the record, though." Garrett: "Thank you, bro! What are we talking about?" Parsons: "Yes, that record stands, and we're not taking that away. [But] there's nobody in the league that can line up from left to right and play every position as if they got paid at that position.
Facts." Garrett: "I have a sack at every spot across the line." Parsons: "You can have a sack at -- I'm talking about truly playing... at my weight." Garrett: "I can't be 240, bro. I actually gotta set the edge, play the run, get TFLs." Garrett: "You got like four in the last two years." Parsons: "That record is only gonna stand but for so long." Garrett: "It is still currently my time." Okay, so let's run through these claims. First, Parsons says that he does things that other guys can't do.
That's a bit of a vague claim, but it's worth noting that since he entered the league, Parsons ranks first in the NFL in pressures (409; Garrett is second with 403), according to Tru Media, as well as first among all edge rushers in pressure rate (20.2%) by a significant margin over Anderson (17.5%). Garrett, of course, has turned his pressures into sacks considerably more often (20.5% to 15.9%), which is why he leads the league with 83 sacks since Parsons entered, and Parsons is third behind T.J. Parsons then said that he's the only one who plays every position across the defensive line as if they got paid at that position.
This is a very hard claim to verify. He has split his team between the left and right sides of the defensive line fairly equally throughout his career, but he hasn't lined up on the interior as often as he's seemingly claiming to have done here. He's been very effective when lined up inside because he's way too fast for guards and centers, but he's also mostly used there in pure pass-rush situations, which benefits his skill set.
Garrett, meanwhile, lines up on the right side of the line considerably more often than the left, and also hasn't lined up on the interior very often. However, I do not doubt his claim that he has a sack from every spot across the line. As for playing at Parsons' weight, well, Garrett is right that he can't just magically be 240 pounds.
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