The NFL world has seen Jason Kelce and his brother Travis Kelce making money with a recent $100 million raise from their New Heights podcast. And hence, it appears that Micah Parsons, inspired by Jason, too wants to follow the same path, at least after retirement. Now that sounds like a perfect plan! And that’s why, Cowboys LB is happy with his podcast – “The Edge with Micah Parsons.”

However, his teammate, Malik Hooker didn’t appear to be happy to see Parsons focusing on his podcast. On June 27, Hooker said, “My advice for Micah would be just make sure we’re all right. Because…..you’re doing a podcast every week and you know the run game is terrible, then what are you really caring about?” This didn’t fit well with Parsons, who replied to him with a different job in mind and was recently backed up by a former NFL player.

Working in podcasts comes with pros & cons due to one reason

After Micah Parsons’ defended himself against Malik Hooker’s comments by saying, “I think we all get our own free time. When y’all away from here are y’all thinking about me at home? I would hope not” – former NFL player, Devin McCourty also supported him. In a recent episode on August 27, 2024, of Sunday Night Football on NFL on NBC, McCourty joined Mike Florio to talk about the pros and cons of Micah Parsons’ retirement plans, as well as the podcast.

The former CB said, “I would say now being out of football every guy should at some point in that off day or their free time, you should start to do things that you think you might want to do when football’s over.”

McCourty even further explained, “Because when I decided to retire for two months, I was just sitting there like what am I going to do now…..so guys need to be very proactive in doing things. Not just thinking of ideas but doing things. So I credit Micah Parsons for doing that.” However, with most of the pros, there are some cons as well!

McCourty revealed those cons by acknowledging that doing something outside of football, like a podcast, can be seen as a distraction if performance on the field slips. He shared his own experience of starting a podcast with his brother while playing and admitted feeling the pressure to perform well. However, McCourty praised Parsons for balancing both.

He believes it’s important for players to start thinking about life after football and take advantage of their free time to explore other interests. Taking Jason Kelce as a reference for how successfully he transitioned into media after football, McCourty emphasized that being proactive like Parsons is smart. He also pulled in Malik Hooker’s comment, saying that if teammates have concerns, those conversations should happen privately within the team, rather than publicly.

So, overall, McCourty thinks that Micah Parsons should be continuing with his podcast, as at the end of the day what matters is that he is proving himself as a good player when the football season is on. Besides, McCourty, another former football defensive end defended Parsons and his choices.

Chris Long clapped back at the haters!

When the Dallas Cowboys ended their 2023 season with a lopsided 48-32 loss against the Packers, many started blaming Micah Parsons’ podcast as one of the reasons behind it. However, fumed Chris Long stood up for the linebacker and said that he doesn’t think his podcast is responsible for their loss. He further emphasized, “I don’t think Micah Parsons is the problem in Dallas. If you wanna make Micah Parsons the problem in Dallas, don’t make it about the podcast, okay? The issue could be interpersonal and the podcast is just an extension of it because I don’t think the podcast is creating any sort of distraction.”

Long also pointed out that if players claim they’re distracted by a podcast, it’s not a real issue. He recalled how, during times when players were protesting for important causes, people said it wouldn’t distract them. In the same way, a podcast shouldn’t either. The former DE stressed that unless Parsons is using the podcast to disrespect teammates or cause division, it’s not something people should be worrying about.

Parsons had “36 solo tackles, 28 assists, 14.0 sacks, and 1 fumble recovery in 17 games in 2023.” He was also selected for his third Pro Bowl. Hence, this clearly shows that the podcast isn’t affecting Parsons’ on-field performance, at least till now.