The Dallas Cowboys took former Alabama offensive guard Tyler Booker with the No. 12 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Thursday, and franchise cornerstone Micah Parsons looked pretty overtly upset at the selection.
Micah Parsons Admits He Wanted a Defensive Player With Cowboys’ First Round Pick
After initially throwing his hands up in the air upon learning the Cowboys picked Booker, Parsons tried his best to cover up his disappointment by calling Booker “a beast,” before going on to admit that he did want some help on defense.
“I am excited about the pick. This guy is a beast. He is a beast, and I look at him and Tyron Smith, guard-on-guard with Zack Martin leaving, this is one of them picks, I mean wow,” he clarified. “I just wanted to see that on my side of the ball. That’s it. But, this guy is a beast. I’m not mad at the pick. I get it.”
#Cowboys Micah Parsons reaction to the team drafting OG Tyler Booker at 12th overall.
(🎥: @BleacherReport on YT) pic.twitter.com/UFa74Kn1ik
— Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) April 25, 2025
In Parsons’ defense (no pun intended), the Cowboys certainly do need help on the defensive side of the ball. In 2024, they received a measly 69.5 rating in PFSN’s Defense+ metric, good for just 25th in the league.
On the other hand, like Parsons said, the offensive line did just lose its long-time stalwart, Zack Martin. Martin, who was picked 16th overall by the Cowboys in 2014, announced his retirement following the 2024 season.
Martin and Booker are vastly different prospects, however. The former received a 9.08 Relative Athletic Score (RAS) grade going into his draft, whereas the latter became one of the least athletic top-20 picks ever based on his 3.68 RAS.
PFSN’s scouting report of Booker acknowledges this as much but insists his technique bridges the gap.
#Cowboys Micah Parsons was really upset the Carolina Panthers took WR Tetairoa McMillan.
“That was supposed to be our pick. He was supposed to be opposite CeeDee Lamb.”
Gut punch for Dallas.
(🎥: @BleacherReport on YT) pic.twitter.com/zJqTfYTFWb
— Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) April 25, 2025
“Booker is an average athlete, which reduces his ceiling. But he maximizes his size, strength, and power with elite footwork, calculated hand usage, sharp gap and stunt awareness, and brute tenacity. He’s a great football player who shouldn’t be overthought,” PFSN Draft Analyst Ian Cummings wrote.
“Booker is a guard, and only a guard. And he plays the guard position better than anyone in the class. He’s a massive phone-booth blocker at 6’5″, 321 pounds, with 34 1/2″ arms, 11″ cinder blocks for hands, and surprising flexibility and knee bend for his size.”
Parsons was also vocal about his disappointment that Arizona product Tetairoa McMillan didn’t slip to the Cowboys’ pick, as he had hoped to pair the big receiver with CeeDee Lamb.
Nonetheless, the Cowboys will soldier on with a bolstered offensive line to protect their very expensive quarterback, Dak Prescott, and look to fill their defensive and receiver needs with their remaining picks in the draft, the first of which comes in the middle of the second round at No. 44.