Micah Parsons made headlines recently — again. This time, it was for beefing with his former teammate, DeMarcus Lawrence, over comments made on his way out. Lawrence said he knew he was “never going to win a Super Bowl” in Dallas before leaving for the Seahawks, prompting Parsons to call him out on Twitter. “This what rejection and envy look like! This some clown sh*t!” wrote the linebacker, fueling the drama and even prompting a response from Lawrence.
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This spat certainly raises the question of whether Parsons’ off-field activities—be it his online presence or podcasting—have contributed to the growing cloud around Dallas. Joy Taylor believes they have been.
Discussing the situation on Speak on FS1, Joy and her co-panelists revisited last year’s comments from Cowboys safety Malik Hooker, who publicly stated that he thought Parsons’ podcast was a distraction. Taylor then speculated whether Parsons continuing his antics was a good idea, given his crucial role on the team.
“You guys get all the money and all the attention, then you get all of the criticism… Even if your performance is not suffering from your behavior. You’re on the Cowboys, the expectations are what they are every year… And you are the face or one of the faces. Certainly the face of the defense.”
It’s just the reality of the situation for Parsons and other faces of franchises around the league. Whether they like it or not, they are held to a higher standard, and whatever successes or failures the team has will fall on their shoulders.
Taylor thus criticized Parsons for his podcast, emphasizing that “the main thing has gotta be the main thing.” While she encouraged players to explore opportunities beyond football, she argued that Parsons’ venture has been more of a distraction than anything else. And with his team consistently falling short of Super Bowl expectations, she believes his words—like his team’s—have yet to hold weight.
“If you’re saying you’re a Super Bowl contender and falling short every single year of those expectations, we know it’s not you; but you’re the face! Like that’s the exchange there. Now you have two teammates on the defensive side saying this is a distraction.”
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To clarify, Lawrence didn’t say Parsons’ pod was a distraction, but it was inferred through the interaction. Replying to Parson’s explosive tweet, he wrote,
“Calling me a clown won’t change the fact that I told the truth. Maybe if you spent less time tweeting and more time winning, I wouldn’t have left.”
When you pair Hooker’s comments with this interaction, it seems Parsons’ antics are starting to ruffle the feathers of his teammates..
That said, it’s not like other highly successful players don’t host podcasts during the season. Travis Kelce, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and others run their own shows, but they keep things light, low-key, and entertaining. Maybe Parsons should take a similar approach if he wants to continue podcasting without making headlines for the wrong reasons.
