Micah Parsons Is Having a Better Rookie Season Than Aaron Donald or Von Miller

There's not enough hyperbole in the universe to overstate Micah Parsons' greatness for the Dallas Cowboys this season. Instead, we'll just present a simple fact: He's on pace for one of the greatest rookie seasons ever. Yes, better than Aaron Donald and Von Miller and so many more guaranteed Hall of Famers.

If that doesn't illustrate greatness, I don't know what will.

Parsons sacked Patrick Mahomes twice during the Cowboys loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday to up his total to eight this season. He's already recorded 18 quarterback hits, 13 tackles for loss and 48 solo tackles. In the history of the NFL, only two rookies have recorded that many sacks and tackles through their first 10 games, Parsons and Von Miller.

Miller turned out to be a pretty good player, right?

Beyond Miller, Parsons is on pace to have more sacks and tackles than Donald, Joey Bosa, Nick Bosa, Julius Peppers, Terrell Suggs and Ndamukong Suh, all fellow defensive linemen who won Defensive Rookie of the Year, an award Parsons seemingly already has locked up. In fact, you have to go back to Jevon Kearse in 1999 to find a rookie whose sack total (14.5) is higher than what Parsons is on pace to reach (13.5).

More important than individual stats, Parsons has helped transform the Cowboys defense from one of the worst in the NFL to one of the best. Last season, Dallas ranked 28th in scoring defense and 23rd in yards per game. This year it's eighth and 18th in those respective categories.

Of course, a lot of other changes happened, including the hiring of Dan Quinn as defensive coordinator and the addition of other players to the defense like Jayron Kearse. But Parson has been the Cowboys' sparkplug on that side of the ball for the last few weeks, recording 5.5 sacks in the last three games and forcing two fumbles.

Rookies tend to hit a wall at the end of the season because their bodies aren't used to playing five or six more games than they did in college. This year the NFL added a game to the schedule so comparing Parsons' final stats to the stars mentioned earlier isn't exactly apples to apples. But if you've watched Parsons play this season you know how special he looks and how much better their defense is because of him.

That's a big reason why the Cowboys came into last week with +900 odds to win the Super Bowl at WynnBET. None of the aforementioned players were able to claim that title their rookie year. If Parsons keeps on the pace he's at and the Cowboys hoist the Lombardi Trophy, you'd have to say this was the best rookie season ever.