Micah Parsons, Malik Hooker podcasting spat keeps Cowboys star player’s name in news

Micah Parsons has had an interesting offseason for the Cowboys

It’s been a whirlwind of an offseason for Micah Parsons. Whether it was debate over having his fifth-year option exercised at the cheaper position designation, questions about his absence from voluntary workouts during a scheme change on defense, or general consternation about the lack of a contract extension for the star pass rusher, Parsons has seen his name in the headlines quite often since he last played a down of football.

That trend continued on Friday for a rather unexpected reason. Safety Malik Hooker was in the middle of an interview appearance on Keyshawn Johnson’s “All Facts, No Brakes” podcast when he was asked by Johnson about player sentiment towards Parsons’ own podcast and the pass rusher recording episodes during the season. Hooker’s immediate response went viral practically the second the words came out of his mouth:

Hooker’s specific highlighting of the run defense as a theoretical example seems all but theoretical, as Parsons drew heat for his comments related to the run defense after a blowout loss to the 49ers in Week 5 of this past season:

“I don’t know, that’s something that there’s only so much I can do from where I’m standing at,” Parsons said when asked about the team’s run defense. “Like, I don’t know what’s going on inside. I just set the edge, bro. Like, I don’t know things that the interior or whatever needs to get addressed. It’s just something the coaches need to look at.”

At the time, Parsons was criticized for what many felt was a selfish comment that threw his defensive line teammates under the bus while bypassing on taking any responsibility for his role in the run defense’s poor performance. Two days after that game, Parsons released a new episode of his podcast, in which he declared that the next meeting between the Cowboys and 49ers would be “personal.” Parsons once again drew heat for the comment, given the recent history between the two teams heading into that game.

For what it’s worth, though, the full comment from Hooker in response to Johnson’s question about Parsons’ podcasting schedule was much less incendiary:

“But also, you know, you gotta remember, Micah’s young. He’s still trying to find his way, still trying to grow into who he’s trying to be, so I give him grace honestly… Micah’s only been in the league four years. He’s still experiencing stuff that he ain’t never been through, he ain’t never been through real adversity. He ain’t seen that yet. So I feel like over time, over these next couple of years of experience and adversity, you’ll see him start to change in how he approaches stuff like that.”

Of course, the initial soundbite was the one that went viral first, and it prompted an immediate online debate. It wasn’t long before Parsons himself weighed in on Twitter in a post he has since deleted:

Parsons deleted the tweet within an hour of posting it, but it was still seen by thousands before he took it down. Parsons’ comments were unsurprisingly not well received, with many pointing out the irony of criticizing Hooker for talking about him in public while Parsons himself did the same thing with this post.

For total clarity on the events, Hooker later took to Instagram and threw cold water on the idea of this being a problem.

But this isn’t the first time that Parsons’ commitment to his podcast has been a subject of debate. Back in March, Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports reported that some people inside the Cowboys organization had grown tired of Parsons’ extended absences from the team, whether it was to record his podcast or work out privately instead of with the rest of the team. Epstein also suggested that some in the organization believe Parsons has a tendency to take plays off, adding to the frustration with the star defender.

While Epstein merely cited anonymous sources, this latest quarrel with Hooker was very much in the public eye. Furthermore, Parsons’ response – including a veiled threat to “point out a lot of other things” – can’t possibly go over well in the locker room, especially one that Parsons has hardly been in since the regular season concluded.

It will surely be interesting to monitor this situation as the Cowboys near training camp, especially as contract negotiations between Parsons and the organization start to heat up. Could this be a sign of some trouble in the locker room, or just a small distraction in the offseason? Only time will tell.