Just how good is Micah Parsons, another prominent 2021 NFL Draft prospect to opt out of the college football season? The ma sive 6-foot-3, 245-pound linebacker was a first-team All-American in 2019 after landing on the freshman All-American team in 2018. He was the per 247 Sports and met expectations from the jump at Penn State.Now, let's go a little deeper on Parsons, a premier linebacker prospect, who'll spend the year training for the NFL instead of playing collegiate football in the Big Ten.Football backgroundThere was no acclimation proce s for Parsons. Didn't need one. He logged full-time snaps as a true freshman at middle linebacker -- after playing defensive end in high school -- and made 82 tackles with four tackles for lo s and two forced fumbles at 19 years old. It was a quinte sential PaulRuddNotBad.gif season.Last season, Parsons emerged as one of, if Van Jefferson Jersey not the best defender on the team. He made 109 tackles (14 of which were behind the line) with five sacks, five pa s breakups, and four forced fumbles.StrengthsI have to start with Parsons' physical profile. Not just because that's how most scouting reports begin, but mostly because Parsons is that impre sive off the team bus. He carries 245 extraordinarily well at 6-foot-3, and while that size indicates he's too big for the speed of the NFL, it doesn't hinder his explosivene s whatsoever, likely because he's tall. Parsons is a menacing defender when ranging toward the sideline, because he's very fast and large. Once he gets going in one direction, he glides Eric Dickerson Jersey like a much smaller player.Parsons is an absolute rock as a run defender, and his size helps him among the trees between the tackles. He leans into blockers and separates from them with ease, and his hands are heavy when he needs to use them. His dynamic lower half and long arms provide him a gigantic tackling radius, plus he rarely mi ses tackles. Parsons is more of a textbook, wrap-up tackler than someone who routinely looks for the highlight hit and dives uncontrollably at the ball carrier. I love that about his game.Parsons is nearly as big as most tight ends and can run with them, but I like him better in zone because his intelligence can really shine. He's lightning quick reacting to route concepts and diagnosing play designs.Lastly, Parsons is an oversized bullet as a pa s rusher, and his film is littered with pre sure creation when deployed off the edge or simply as a blitzer through one of the inside gaps. His time as a defensive end during high school likely factors in here and provides a luxury most linebacker prospect -- even the good ones -- don't po se s.Weakne sesFor as explosive as Parsons is -- particularly for his size -- there is some slight stiffne s when changing directions. Don't get me wrong -- he's pretty flexible in the ankles and hips, and there's some twitchine s to his movements. It's just that suddenne s at 225 pounds is almost always going to be more impre sive than at 245 like Parsons is. Shedding some weight in the NFL would do Parsons good when it comes to stopping and exploding in another direction.While he was AJ Jackson Jersey much more comfortable drifting in coverage as a sophomore than he was in 2018, Parsons does only have five career pa s breakups and no interceptions (although there are some dropped picks on his resume) Taylor Rapp Jersey .NFL comparisonFloor: Middle: K.J. WrightCeiling: As I did with my scouting reports on and , I'm going with a floor/middle ground/ceiling comparison for Parsons because it gives a good general idea of the type of player he is and provide a broad range of outcomes for his level of succe s in the NFL when considering factors outside his control (coaching, scheme, etc.) once he gets to the league.McClain had a strange ody sey in the NFL after going No. 8 overall in the 2010 draft. After two strong seasons to start his career with the Oakland , his play (mostly in coverage) dipped and led to him losing snaps when the defense used its nickel package. Things went off the rails with the Raiders coaching staff after that, and upon his release, he signed with the but retired at the age of 23. The traded for McClain, and he had two succe sful seasons as the middle linebacker with a grand total of six pa s breakups and two picks along with stellar run-stopping play. While he never met the immense hype he carried with him from Alabama, the large linebacker did have two instances of productive play in back-to-back seasons.Wright has been the most underrated member of the defense for almost a decade now, and was basically unheard of during the Legion of Boom's heyday despite being a key, new-age second-level defender. At 6-foot-3 and around 250 pounds, Wright is similarly sized to Parsons, and he's always played Matthew Orzech Jersey with outstanding run-stopping range and comfort in coverage. He's made just one Pro Bowl but has been a steady force for Pete Carroll during his nine-year career. He's gone over 100 tackles five times and has never had fewer than three pa s breakups in one season. While there's not major name recognition with Wright -- who plays in shadows of -- he's a damn good football player.Kuechly was a top-10 pick in 2012, has been a first-team All-Pro on five occasions, and is potentially a future Hall of Famer. All that makes this quite the high ceiling for a Parsons comparison. But his size, explosion, tackling reliability, block-shedding mastery, and coverage intelligence are Kuechly-esque.