Is this fair? Probably not. But even before he was poetically traded to the Green Bay Packers, Micah Parsons had already forged a professional link to Reggie White. And now? An all-time edge rushing talent (yes, you heard me) ends a historic run in the NFC East without a Super Bowl ring, only to join the Green Bay Packers in precedent-defining fashion.
Stop me if you've heard this before.
Let's not get this twisted, because I can already hear your angry typing: Micah Parsons is not Reggie White. He doesn't have more sacks than games played and has yet to accrue more than 20 in a single season, and much less in 12 games or less. Reggie White was a freak — in fact, ESPN has him ranked as the greatest Eagle ever. And Micah's deal did not set policy the way that White basically created the modern concept of free agency in the NFL.
But White didn't sign for nearly $200 million. The Eagles didn't trade him for two firsts and an over-the-hill defender in Kenny Clark. And in Micah's defense, 52.5 sacks over four years is not all that far off from White's pace of 124 over eight in Philly. (Although it's way off of White's 80 over his first five years in the league.) And while he didn't beat White's 124/121 sack-to-games played ratio, Parsons did record 11 over his last 9 games in Dallas.
All that I'm saying is that the comparison is there. And for such a historic player (seriously, the comparisons are there), hyperbolic analysis on either end of the spectrum would only disrespect him and the legend he is being compared to. There is only one interesting conversation to be had now that Parsons is in the green and gold.
Micah Parsons' big to-do list
As I've said above, there is no eclipsing a top-10 player in NFL history, especially when their stats are nigh-impeachable.
Parsons seems to know that, even if his ambitions are to make it onto the wall at Lambeau. If Parsons wants to get there, and to continue the positive associations with his hero, he can't rest on his laurels. White accumulated nearly 70 sacks as a Packer and only missed the Pro Bowl once between his time in Philly and Green Bay. Those are tall numbers for Parsons to have to try and live up to, but it's very possible he could at 26 years old — still just entering what many would consider his prime.
But the albatross, the proverbial ghost that Parsons & Co. will be chasing, will be the Lombardi trophy. White and Favre's Packers took home the franchise's first since the 1960s, and these Packers will be chasing Green Bay's first since Super Bowl XLV.
Predictably, the answer to how Parsons can live up to the White comp is the same as it is for every player chasing a ghost: Win.