On Parsons:
https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article250227215.html
"Micah Parsons was born to play in Brian Flores’ defense.
The Penn State linebacker is a sideline-to-sideline wrecking ball who can line up at three different positions.
With representatives of the Miami Dolphins on-hand to get a close look, Parsons dazzled at his pro day Thursday, clocking a sub 4.4-second 40, putting up 19 bench-press reps and jumping 34 inches in the vertical leap at 6-3, 246.
Put another way, he reminded everyone just how special he is as an athlete, in case they forgot during his football sabbatical. Parsons won the Butkus-Fitzgerald Award as the Big Ten’s linebacker of the year and was a consensus All-American in 2019 before opting out the following season due to COVID-19.
That decision would end his college career; he declared for the draft and spent the past six months preparing for it."
"The only problem to this plan: third is probably too high to take Parsons, and 18th might be too low."
"If the Dolphins stay put at 3, the prevailing belief is they will take the highest-rated skill position player on their board."
"That means the Dolphins taking a defensive player with their first pick cannot be ruled out — but only if they trade down. Parsons would be a huge stretch at 3, but not so much at 8 or 9 — picks belonging to quarterback-needy Carolina and Denver."
"There’s one other factor that could work in Miami’s favor: Parsons’ reputation isn’t pristine either.
Perhaps they could get a top-5 talent with the 18th overall pick. It’s not that far-fetched of an idea.
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein has Parsons falling all the way to 29th in his latest mock draft over “character concerns,” which likely alludes to Parsons’ inclusion in a 2020 university report regarding a Title IX inquiry into the Nittany Lions program...
Former defensive back Isaiah Humphries accused Parsons and others of sexual harassment, hazing and violence, including choking.
Parsons also had to transfer from one Harrisburg, Pa., area school to another after being accused, in the words of his father in 2016, of “inciting a riot.”
“Obviously, people had some concerns about things that had happened,” Parsons said. “But at the end of the day, I believe that I was a kid. I was 17-18. We all made mistakes when we were 17-18. I’m not going to let it control or dictate the person I am now. I’m not going to let something that happened four years ago dictate who I’m becoming and the father I want to be.
“Everyone learns and grows. I’m pretty sure none of you are making the same mistakes you made when you were 17 or 18 or even 25,” he continued. “If someone is going to judge me over that, then I would rather not be in their program. I know the type of person I’m becoming. I know the type of father I’m becoming. That’s all that matters to me. Anybody who is willing to accept my wrongs when I was wrong and my rights when I was right, I’m ready to give them my all. But if it’s going to come down to something I did in high school, I can only control what I can control moving forward. That’s how I feel about it.”
The Dolphins of course will investigate all of these incidents (if they haven’t already). As an organization, they will decide whether Parsons truly has grown up in the years since.
But Flores has repeatedly shown a willingness to give troubled players a second chance and a fresh start in Miami. Parsons’ unicorn ability might convince the Dolphins to take on another reclamation project."
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