When Leighton Vander Esch was placed on IR following a neck injury in Week 5, concern rained down from the heavens. Not only was there concern about Vander Esch’s long-term health, but there was also concern about how the Cowboys would fill his void on the defense.

Dallas was already paper thin at LB and options were limited in free agency. Out of pure necessity, Micah Parsons was expected to see more snaps as an off-ball LB, which would likely impact his role as a pass rusher.

Parsons, a converted LB, knows how to play off-ball well. He played a traditional LB role at Penn State exclusively and was drafted as such by Dallas back in 2021. He started with Dallas off-ball and only when needs forced him to play on the line as rookie, did the Cowboys truly discover what they had in Parsons – a transcendent pass rusher.

Since pass-rushers impact the game exponentially more than off-ball players, the Cowboys rarely moved Parsons back to a traditional LB role. They still moved him around the line in search of matchups, but rarely have they asked him to play truly off-ball.

The idea of losing him on the defensive line in order to play a role on the second level was enough to frighten anyone.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul only makes sense if Paul is more important. It would be like skipping the mortgage payment in order to afford Netflix. It was an example in misplaced priorities.

When the Cowboys defense took the field in Los Angeles in Week 6, many watched with bated breath. Would Parsons line up off-ball or would Parsons primarily play his normal role at EDGE?

It turns out, it was both.

Parsons took 59 snaps on the defensive line Monday night, marking a season high. What also marked a season high? His snaps at off-ball LB.

Parsons logged season highs at both positions, obviously indicating his total workload on defense was also a season high.

The Cowboys must have decided instead of robbing from one position to field another position, they’d rather just create more snaps for Parsons. And it’s hard to argue with the results.

Not only did Parsons effectively carry the increased workload, but he carried it well. The 24-year-old superstar was every bit his dominant self as a pass rusher, all while lending a hand as a LB option.

Better yet, as a departure from his strategy the week before, Parsons targeted the weak link on the Chargers offensive line. Instead of going head-to-head with Rashawn Slater over and over again, Parsons went after Trey Pipkins at RT. That’s where six of seven pressures occurred, including his monumental sack late in the fourth.

There was seemingly no slippage in play with that handful of LB snaps added to his workload, and as per Next Gen Stats, Parsons still leads the NFL in pressures this season.