Micah Parsons is the new favorite to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year

2023 may wind up being the year Micah Parsons finally wins DPOY.

Life is good for the Dallas Cowboys at the moment. Fresh off of their Thursday night win, the Cowboys now have a mini-bye to rest and prepare for their December stretch, a run that will feature games against several teams vying for playoff spots in both conferences.

Of course it helps that Dallas currently has players playing out of their minds and at very high levels. At the moment, quarterback Dak Prescott is front and center of those discussions and is a name that continues to make sense as the potential MVP of the league. Consider that Prescott was just named NFC Offensive Player of the Month for November as an indication that things could ultimately be working out in his favor.

Amazingly the Cowboys had the NFC’s Offensive and Defensive Players of the Month for November as cornerback DaRon Bland had about 100 pick sixes over the 30-day period (at least it felt that way). Bland is actually the second Cowboys player to win that award this season as Micah Parsons won it in September.

It appears that Parsons may not be done racking up awards, though. As of Friday afternoon, he is now the betting favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook to win Defensive Player of the Year.

It is hard to know exactly why Parsons leapfrogged Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, but considering that Garrett was a bit banged up in his team’s game last week that certainly seems, at least, to be part of it.

Additionally the Browns are potentially headed south and doing so rather quickly as it’s been reported that veteran Joe Flacco will start at quarterback for Cleveland on Sunday. It is an unfair part of the process, but generally speaking players who win awards like this have to be on top-performing and/or playoff teams and Parsons is obviously on one while Garrett may not be in short order.

It is this sort of phenomenon that causes players like DeMarcus Ware to miss out on rightful DPOY honors which Ware absolutely earned in 2008. I am not still bitter about that at all or anything.

But for the moment the odds suggest that the Cowboys could potentially have the league’s MVP and DPOY on the same roster, and then be in a position where they both would need contract extensions in the offseason.

That is a discussion for another day, though.