Character issues is such a broad umbrella. Can mean a lot of things. Here it just sounds like he is immature. Not drugs. Not criminal behavior. He’s just an immature jackass. Sometimes those are the worst kind, but sometimes they are Terrell Owens. Does the kid put in the work? Does he take to coaching? Is this something age specific? I don’t like some of what I’m reading. But man can he play football.
Instead of going after this Vontaze Burfict wannabe, go get the real thing, he’s a FA. Oh and pay no attention to his pending assault trial, it was a misdemeanor and could happen to anybody.
Taking Terry Fair at No. 20 overall never made any sense given that they took WR Germane Crowell at No. 50 overall. Would have made more sense to take Moss at No. 20. If that happens, maybe Barry Sanders doesn’t retire because the Lions are a whole lot better on offense, don’t lose as much, and have some hope.
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I agree. wait for the outcome. but, I’d say he’d be quite useful here…if things check out.
The only scenario I see taking Parsons is a trade down. He is really good, but with character questions and playing off the ball LB I don’t think he is a top 10 pick. Plus he didn’t even play last year. That’s the other thing that makes this draft so hard.
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It’s going to make judging next years difficult as well. I mean, look at the PAC 12, they played what, 4 games? How are you going to know next year whether a guy is a flash in the pan, or the real McCoy?
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I do not want to take on the Micah Parsons Project. Several Character issues, immature, and opted out.
I want my LB’s to be dogs. Always ready to go to war.
Nothing wrong with someone that only thinks about themselves…just not what I want in a LB.
A history of questionable decisions is a pattern. He’s also been out of the game for a year.
Sounds like a great recipe for a top 10 LB.
I see Rueben Foster 2.0.
NO THANKS.
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I am not ruling Parsons out. I completely understand the concern, and they are really going to have to do their homework. IMHO, Parsons, talent wise, is a guy you build an entire defense around. And that is what we need.
What is amazing to me about Parsons is his closing speed. Its insane for a guy that big. This would be the guy IMO if it weren’t for the character issues. So they really really need to do their homework and not just dismiss him outright. Unless its that obvious, of course.
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What has gone unnoted so far in this thread is that Parsons has his college degree. Further, he has a two year old son. Micah earned his degree in Dec. 2020. His degree is in criminology. I read this and I don’t have any serious questions at all:
https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-football/article244772347.html
He was a third year student and that is beyond impressive to me.
To me Parsons is the leading draft candidate for the Lions at this point. He is exactly what the Lions need.
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Thanks for that link. There were several videos and below is the only one I watched. I’m sold on his focus and maturity going forward. If Glenn can get him to “see” the play consistently, we’ll have a major piece to the defensive puzzle.
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And he uses “only played the position for a year and a half” as an excuse for some of his shortcomings. I don’t think a person who sat out should use lack of experience as a talking point about his own game.
Also, in his interview with Jordan Reid he refers to the Penn State loss against IU as being “outcoached”. Granted, he wasn’t on the field due to his opting out, but still, that’s a highly ill-advised comment to make.
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I don’t get why it’s okay for coaches to blame “execution” for every loss - you know, the game plan was perfect, but the morons on the field couldn’t do it right - yet a player has to tiptoe around when coaches lose their part of the game.
There are things you say:
To yourself
To your coach
To your teammates
To an interviewer
To the public
Tell your coach he was outcoached. Don’t tell your teammates and the rest of the world that the coach who you chose not to play for this year was outcoached.
I suppose the team is far enough in the rearview mirror that he’s free to say what he wants, but still, it doesn’t reflect well on him, IMO.
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So why don’t these rules apply to coaches? They tell everyone that a loss was due to execution. That’s a not-thinly-veiled way of saying that the coaching was perfect but the players sucked. It’s exactly the same level of throwing someone else under the bus.
Do you say that it reflects poorly on coaches who say that their players were outplayed?
Slay and Diggs both said the scheme here sucked. Patricia says it was the execution. I believe the former.
Well said. This is pretty much where I’m at. I think you have to have a conversation with him before you can make any decisions. I haven’t ruled him out myself.
He’s definitely one of the top 5 defensive talents in this draft, I don’t think anything about that will change before the draft.
But to me, the charges leveled against Parsons by the guy who got hazed are only a part of what gives me pause. There are other reports that mention Parsons too, one in which a knife was drawn. I don’t care too much about him opting out, but what I do find concerning are the words of Bucky Brooks about him, and he’s a Parsons family friend.
There’s a lot of smoke which to me doesn’t mean take him off the draft board, it just means we need to be very thorough about our homework. Interviews will matter a ton. From the few Parsons interviews I’ve seen out there, I don’t know that he’ll be able to assuage the concerns of a skeptical front office. Compared to someone like Gregory Rousseau (who’s a thoughtful, intelligent dude), it’s hard not to like one guy A LOT more than the other.
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Lavar Arrington came out in pretty strong defense of him on Facebook. https://247sports.com/Article/Micah-Parsons-LaVar-Arrington-defenders-character-NFL-Draft-2021-Miami-Dolphins-Penn-State-160104759/
What I can read from the things that have been said is that he’s not missing practice, he’s not doing drugs, he’s not “hanging with the wrong crowd”. Its a kid who is so immensely talented that he has a little bit of the teen pop star syndrome. Where his ego needs to be checked. And who knows, I have to qualify myself on this stuff because I’m some dude on the internet reading stuff. I leave the character stuff to them. I remember really liking McDowell’s talent and he had some character issues too. Who knows how that could of ended, because he was dumb enough to get into an ATV accident. Would Pete Carroll reigned him in? They never got a chance, but even the accident itself was caused by bad decisions.
On the field he is pretty awesome though. Not perfect, but a rare breed with the physical talent.
I don’t know how it works in football but have you ever been in a serious hazing program? I did in my fraternity, having had that experience and seen others where people speak up against it’s easy to understand why there’s only one dude publicly complaining. I’ve known 3 situations they were all individuals speaking out. No one else does because that person gets blackballed from their social group and everything it means to their life. The hazing I did was intense and degrading by some fucked up young developing personalities in a machismo culture on drugs but there were no sexual assaults taking place. That’s a big red line. While it didn’t always happen there was an effort to maintain safety. Even bad apples in the most conducive environment to get away with shit didn’t go as far as Parsons. It would’ve gotten that person blackballed.
Having those statements thrown out in court could mean any number of things. The kid didn’t articulate himself well under stress which is about as normal as it gets for being a human. He could’ve embellished as the court suggests. Or the attorney’s involved impact on the outcome. What gets into court on the record can be finicky. Placing our trust in that as if it’s absolute truth would be foolish.
Said it before will again. At #7 for a cornerstone I’m staying away. Don’t want to deal with the growing pains for someone we’re investing a monstrous asset in that’s supposed to step in and lead. It’s clear to me there will be extra growing with Parsons. Want to take a big upside flier if he slips, that’s a different story.
I don’t think our front office drafts him. Remember the quote MCDC gave from McVay. Something to the effect of he wants steady players. Those are the guys he can work with. Not emotional rollercoasters who have high highs and low lows where you don’t know what you’re going to get from one day to the next.
Maybe I’ll foray into that another time.