Is Micah Parsons the next Lawrence Taylor? NFL greats think comparisons are justified

The minute Lawrence Taylor stepped on an NFL field in the 1980s, everyone in the stadium knew where he was. The same thing happens now when he walks into a room in Canton, Ohio, filled with Pro Football Hall of Famers. Their heads turn because they feel his presence. They know his greatness was on another level.

"Three are certain people in this league that we put on a different pedestal," Hall of Famer Michael Irvin said recently. "L.T. is one of them."

It's why for years Taylor's former New York Giants teammates and coaches would cringe and growl anytime a young defensive player was dubbed "the next L.T." They considered it an insult to his legend, an ignorance to his greatness, and a simply ridiculous comparison.

Then Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons came along.

"In terms of game disruption, he's at a level of Lawrence Taylor," former Giants linebacker Carl Banks told FOX Sports. "He can just wreck a play at any given time. I don't think it's fair to compare him to Lawrence. Lawrence was different, right? It's fairer to say that Micah Parsons is doing it his way and he's making a similar type impact. 

"He may not rise to the level of the greatest defensive player ever, but he's going to be in the top 5 or 10."

Banks would know, having spent nine years playing alongside the original L.T. in New York, and seeing and studying Parsons twice a year for the last three years as the Giants radio analyst on WFAN. And he's not alone in saying the comparison isn't absurd. Even New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, Taylor's linebackers coach and defensive coordinator in New York for a decade, said in a radio interview this week that Parsons is an athlete "along the lines of a Taylor."

After that comment sent shockwaves around the NFL, Belichick walked it back a bit, insisting that "personally, I'm not putting anybody ahead of Lawrence Taylor. Not yet."

But even those who played with and against Taylor during his unbelievable 13-year career don't think Belichick was wrong.

"It's hard to compare what I would argue is the greatest of all time, especially early in his career," said FOX Sports analyst Mark Schlereth, who faced L.T. as a guard with the Washington franchise from 1989-93. "But I understand how dominant Micah Parsons is. I get it. It's hallowed ground when you talk to Bill Belichick or Bill Parcells and they're just like ‘Hey, pump your brakes now, we're talking about Lawrence Taylor.' And I get that. Because he was frightening. 

"But this guy is that good. And he's that versatile. I don't know. He's a problem. He is forging his own Hall of Fame career."

That might be true, but even those who tout Parson's greatness — and who don't think the L.T. comparisons are absurd — acknowledge this is all a bit premature. Parsons, the 12th overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Penn State, is early in his third NFL season and is still only 24 years old. There is no doubt he's achieved a level of greatness already. He was the Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2021 and the runner-up for the overall Defensive Player of the Year in each of his first two seasons. He's a two-time All-Pro, and he has 30 ½ sacks in 36 career games — 13 ½ more than L.T. had at that stage (unofficially, since sacks weren't an official stat in Taylor's rookie year).

But Taylor dominated the NFL for a decade. He set the single-season sack record with 20 ½ in 1986. He was the NFL's MVP that year. He was an All-Pro eight times. He literally changed the way the game was played and how linebackers were used. And he led the Giants to two Super Bowl championships.

"I don't mind us comparing Micah Parsons (to L.T.), but I have to ask him the question," Irvin said on FS1's "Undisputed" last week. "Put your championships on the table before we put you up there with L.T."

Parsons likely has to do more than that to be considered on L.T.'s level. Still, he's clearly in the conversation, at least for now.

"Which is compliment enough, right?" said FOX Sports analyst Daryl "Moose" Johnston, who faced off with Taylor as a fullback with the Cowboys from 1989-93. "If you were brought into (the) same conversation as Lawrence Taylor that should be very flattering. Because he revolutionized the game. You did not block Lawrence Taylor with a tight end or running back. Ever. He gave some of the best tackles who played the games fits."

Parsons is having the same kind of impact on opposing offenses. The Cowboys line him up all over the field and he's shown a knack for getting to the quarterback from anywhere. His speed makes him a devastating edge rusher. His power and moves make him a dangerous inside rusher too. He's strong against the run. He's excellent in coverage when he's asked to do that. And as Banks said, "his intellect and football IQ are off the charts."

All of that is not the case with most defensive players. Only a few of them have the ability to do it all. And even the best pass rushers have a comfort zone and usually pick a side. Cleveland's Myles Garrett almost always lines up on the right. Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt is most comfortable on the left. 

"But this guy is everywhere," Johnston said. "He's on the left side. He's on the right side. He'll walk up over center. He'll drop down to the linebacker level."

"From an offensive perspective, the first thing you do when you play the Dallas Cowboys is you find out where he's lined up," Schlereth added. "‘Where's No. 11? What's our plan?' And because he can line up in multiple positions you have to have multiple plans. The amount of work that takes as an offense is significant."

Sometimes, preparing for Parsons isn't enough, because he can change what he's doing mid-game or even mid-play. Schlereth recalled calling a Cowboys-Giants game when Parsons was a rookie when he saw him line up across from Giants running back Devontae Booker who had split wide. He saw Parsons motioning to Cowboys corner Anthony Brown, trying to tell him Booker was going to run a pick play. Sure enough, that's what he did, taking Brown out of the play.

So Parsons immediately abandoned his man-to-man coverage on Booker, turned around and chased after Giants receiver Kenny Golladay 15 yards downfield to prevent him from catching what would have been a touchdown.

"Micah Parsons just comes off his coverage, snaps his hips around, runs stride for stride with the receiver and knocks the ball away like he's the best corner in football," Schlereth said. "That's the most ridiculous play I've ever watched. What he did, people just don't have that football awareness.

"I'm not so sure if he lost a few pounds maybe he could be the best corner in football for all I know."

It's that versatility that makes Parsons stand out in an era of specialization. He's great at everything he does, and Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn asks him to do it all. That's the way the Giants used to use Lawrence Taylor, and what made him so feared by opposing offenses and so respected by his teammates.

Those Giants teams had one of the greatest linebacker corps in NFL history in the 1980s and early 1990s. But Banks insisted that Parsons would have "absolutely" fit in.

"He is an ‘80s-’90s linebacker," Banks said. "He's from the era of the linebacker. He fits in there because he can do so much. He's not just a pass rusher. He would probably be an all-pro inside linebacker if they chose just to leave him there."

Of course, it's one thing to fit in with Taylor, Banks, Hall of Famer Harry Carson and the other great Giants linebackers from that era. It's another thing to rise to the L.T. level — a rarefied air where maybe only players like Jim Brown, Jerry Rice, Tom Brady and Joe Montana belong.

"I wouldn't put anybody ahead of Lawrence Taylor, period," Belichick insisted. "Maybe I'm prejudiced, but I saw that guy every day for over a decade, and he tilted the field for a decade. So, until somebody does that …"

"I also want to be clear that he is not at that level yet," Johnston added. "But I think there are similarities. It's just got to be so dynamic from week to week. You can't have a (bad) performance. I don't ever remember Lawrence Taylor having an off day. When he got to game day, it was on. We've seen that from Micah at times, but the threat of him wrecking a game has to be viable every single weekend."

He may be on his way to doing that, though. Parsons clearly has the athletic ability and the remarkable instincts. He's also shown a work ethic and desire to get better. Last May he even convinced former Pro Bowl offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth to join him in Austin, Texas, for a week of training and film study, so he could get a better feel for how great tackles play against him.

"I used to watch (former Pro Bowl tackle) Mark Tuinei and (Hall of Fame defensive end) Charles Haley have those conversations," Johnston said. "When you understand how the player you're trying to beat thinks, it's very enlightening.

"Micah is a great combination of god-given ability and that desire to be the best, that desire to always get better. God doesn't always bless people with both those characteristics. And he's got those."

Is that enough to really get him to L.T.'s level — not just a Hall of Famer, but one who deserves his own room in the museum? That almost certainly depends on how well he's able to sustain his greatness and his game-wrecking ability over the next 5-to-10 years. And it won't be easy, because NFL offensive coordinators are clearly doing whatever they can to avoid him and make him a non-factor.

"Most offenses are so afraid of him they don't want to test him," Banks said. "He's just that good."

So good that Schlereth said: "He's easily in the conversation of the top 1, 2, or 3 defensive players in the National Football League regardless of position." He added there's a "compelling argument" that Parsons would already be the NFL's best edge rusher if that's all the Cowboys asked him to do.

But Lawrence Taylor was so much more than that, which is why the comparison is so hard to make — even if those who knew L.T. best aren't afraid to make it.

"I just don't want to put him in a box and say ‘he's the next this or that,'" Banks said. "He is The Micah Parsons. He's his own unicorn. And I think people should appreciate him for what he's doing, not compared to what somebody else did before him.

"When his career is over with, there won't be a comparison to Lawrence Taylor," Banks added. "There will be the greatness of Micah Parsons."

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.