New Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons is ready to embrace a distraction-free life and focus on nothing but football in the smallest city in the NFL.
Parsons, who grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and then starred for Penn State in State College, sounds excited to ditch the busy life in North Texas for the football-crazed metropolis known as Green Bay.
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Asked by Larry McCarren of Packers.com if he’s liking the fit in his new city, Parsons immediately answered with “yes.”
“Just focus on ball,” Parsons said. “I’m going to take a break from everything. I’m just so ready to focus on this thing, what it’s really all about. And that’s football, right here, what we love. I think here is all about ball, they pour everything into football. This is probably what I needed in my life. I told my family, they said, ‘Are you happy?’ I said I couldn’t be happier. I feel it. You ever have that feeling like, ‘I think I made the right decision.’ That’s exactly how I feel.”
Parsons, who spent his first four seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, was traded to the Packers last week. He immediately signed a four-year, $188 million deal.
It’s unclear what his “break from everything” will mean for his popular podcast, “The Edge with Micah Parsons.”
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Green Bay often gets knocked in the NFL landscape for a lack of things to do for ultra wealthy 20-somethings. The Green Bay metro area barely has more than 300,000 people, and it can’t be confused for South Beach or LA. But the quiet life has a flip side — with little to no distractions outside the building, the focus can stay on football. And an elite player with a focus on nothing but the job can reach another level.
During his introductory press conference, Parsons said he thought coming to Green Bay could help him take the “next step” in his professional career.
An elite player at a premium position who starred for the Dallas Cowboys, Parsons immediately became a national sports icon. Now, it’s possible for Parsons’ professional life to settle and his aim to come into focus.
What kind of player are the Packers getting?
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“I think I’m the same person. I have no off switch. I only know go, as I tell people,” Parsons said. “I’m a competitor. Bro, I’ll bring a Connect 4 board in here and whoop everybody and dare them to do something about it. That’s just me as a person. Me on the football field, I’m gonna try and whoop you and see what we do about it. I just think it’s the same person. How you do anything is how you do everything…I feel like I’m gonna try and beat you, man.”
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons ready to focus on football in Green Bay