Scouting report comparison: Micah Parsons vs. Jarrad Davis

One of the most popular players in Detroit Lions 2021 NFL draft projections is Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons. He’s especially popular within the Lions’ own fanbase.

I’ll be honest, I find the obsession with Parsons fascinating. And part of the reason for that is because of just how virulently a significant portion of the Lions fan base despises Jarrad Davis — a player who came to Detroit with a nearly identical scouting report coming out of Florida.

First, here’s the report on Parsons from NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah, a former NFL scout and one of the most respected draft analysts. It was written last summer, but Parsons opted out and did not play in 2020 so there is nothing new to add to the on-field evaluation.

The positives from Jeremiah,

First of all, he has a big, athletic build for the position. His play speed is excellent and he has the versatility to play off the ball or on the edge. As an inside linebacker, he possesses a trait that is rare in today’s college game: He can physically take on blocks. He attacks guards and can escape to make plays after a collision. He did the same versus the fullback in the Iowa game last season. He eats up ground in a hurry when chasing plays to the perimeter and is a very reliable tackler.

Jeremiah continued,

Parsons also excels against the pass. He can cover backs and tight ends all over the field. He has the vision and instincts to make plays in zone coverage. He’s a dynamic blitzer from the middle or off the edge. He has phenomenal timing and burst. His overall instincts are top-notch.

And the negatives on Parsons coming out of Penn State,

He will get overaggressive and overrun the ball at times. However, that is offset by his ability to redirect and eventually find his way back to the ball-carrier. He also had a few issues locating the ball on some zone-read plays in the Ohio State game. Playing against that scheme requires incredible discipline and he was pulled out of position at times.

Now we’ll go back to NFL.com and its scouting report on Davis from the 2017 draft class. This is written by Lance Zierlein, another longtime NFL talent evaluator…

• Excellent flexibility throughout his trunk

• Can twist and turn to slither into gaps

• Plus acceleration to chase all over the field

• Scouts say coaches are effusive in their praise of his leadership, work ethic and character

• Can be rude to company

• Erupts from coiled hips with a jarring pop under the pads of oncoming blockers

• Runs downhill with choppy steps in balanced, tackle-ready position

• Effective in spy role with athleticism to mirror mobile quarterbacks

• Has closing burst that could become a weapon as a blitzer

• Wrap-up tackler with strong finishing rate

• Improved his discipline pursuing to the sideline

• Did a better job of leveraging running backs against the boundary

• Forceful redirect of tight ends out of their routes

• Good peripheral helps him spot crossing routes without having to drop eyes from the quarterback

Now for the negatives on Davis,

• Downhill routes to the ball can be problematic

• Will step too far downhill and get trapped in traffic on counters or bounces to the perimeter

• Needs to play with more consistent technique and positioning to properly leverage his gaps against gap plays

• Lateral scrapes sometimes lack patience forcing him to overrun run fits and open cutback lanes

• Sometimes prioritizes attacking blockers too high

• Has to get better at seeing and working past the blocker and toward the runner rather than issuing so many physical challenges that get him behind in pursuit

Looks familiar, eh?

The draft analysts at Pro Football Focus echoed many of the same similarities between Parsons and Davis. First, here’s the PFF summary of Davis from 2017,

Like Wagner, Davis is an elite athlete but is undersized for an inside linebacker. While that can inhibit him in some ways, Davis has everything needed to be a pro bowl linebacker.

Bottom line: Davis is an excellent athlete who possesses the first-step explosiveness to beat blocks to the point of attack as well as threaten the QB on pass rushes. He also has the speed and agility to drop effectively in coverage, and can stay with tight ends and backs all over the field. If he can improve his tackling, as well as become more consistent with his run keys, he clearly has the athletic skill set to be an every-down player at the NFL level.

Now here’s what PFF says of Parsons in 2021,

The only real knock on his game is his limited coverage responsibility in Penn State’s scheme. He played all of 65 snaps in man coverage back in 2019. That’s not an end-all, be-all, though; he can still easily hunt down ball carriers with his movement skills in space.

At the end of the day, Parsons is simply too freaky to pass up. He earned the second-highest run-defense grade of any true sophomore linebacker in the PFF College era. He reportedly runs in the 4.3s at 240-plus pounds. If he were solely an edge rusher, he’d likely be EDGE1 with the way he attacks blocks. Parsons is the real deal.

It’s a higher-end projection — as it should be given Parson’s awesome play in 2019 — but the trait comparison is quite similar.

How about this evaluation from Walter Football?

Davis is a rare linebacker with a great skill set. He is very fast with sideline-to-sideline speed that allows him to cover a ton of ground. Davis is explosive as a runner and as a hitter with some real shock that surprises offensive linemen and ball-carriers.

Davis also demonstrated skills for the passing game and is a dangerous blitzer. In the short to intermediate zone, he does well with picking up receivers and also has shown some ball skills. As a professional, Davis could be an asset as a linebacker weapon to neutralize receiving-threat tight ends and running backs in man-to-man coverage. Davis should be a true three-down defender in the NFL.

Sure sounds like Parsons, doesn’t it? The traits listed there are precisely what the Lions need in the middle of the defense entering 2021. Yet bringing back the player described there would be about as popular with most of the Lions fanbase as bringing back Matt Millen as the team’s GM.

The point of this little exercise is to highlight the folly in being overconfident in any player being the answer. Parsons is a high-end prospect, no question about it. His game film from 2019 is stellar, but that doesn’t make him a can’t-miss prospect — especially after not playing for a full season. He’s also got some disturbing character questions that never plagued Davis.

The relative failure of Davis to live up to the lofty expectations and insane athletic potential cannot be ignored in evaluating Parsons. It doesn’t mean Parsons will turn out the same way. Coaching played no small part in Davis’ failure to pan out optimally, and that regime is now (mercifully) gone. But fans believing Parsons is a sure thing and the answer to the Lions’ defensive prayers appear to need a reality check. And that reality check is the eminently familiar Jarrad Davis. Just check the report…

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