SANTA CLARA – Micah Parsons finished second to Nick Bosa as NFL Defensive Player of the Year last season.
This year, Parsons is considered the betting favorite for the honor.
Parsons presents the 49ers with their biggest challenge on Sunday night when the Dallas Cowboys come to Levi’s Stadium for a high-octane clash between two of the league’s best teams.
Bosa will be on the sideline when Parsons is on the field, but he knows a lot about the Cowboys’ best player, having watched videos of him.
“He feels very comfortable across the board,” Bosa said of Parsons, who had four sacks in the first four games of the 2023 NFL season.
“Obviously he’s more athletically gifted than anyone I would say — him and maybe Myles Garrett. But only acceleration. Pieces he shouldn’t do, he does. And (he plays with) good effort.”
According to on-field tracking from Zebra Technology, Parsons recorded nine quarterback pressures in Week 4 against the New England Patriots.
It was Parsons’ eighth consecutive game with at least five pressures. He leads the NFL in nearly every pass-rush metric, including pressures (29) and pressure rate (27.4%).
Veteran cornerback Anthony Brown, who started 69 of the 94 regular-season games he appeared in for the Cowboys over seven seasons, is now in his third week on the 49ers’ practice squad.
Brown had the luxury of playing in a defense with Parsons. Parsons is a first-round draft pick in 2021 and has 30 sacks in 37 career regular season games.
“He’s basically like a Nick Bosa here,” Brown said. “He gets it going up front and gets the ball out quicker for the DBs on the back end.”
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