Although using all kinds of stats can prove that Micah Parsons belongs in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation, the "eye test" alone can prove it. The way the Dallas Cowboys LB/DE plays is truly magnificent. It's so impressive to watch that he's drawn comparisons to perhaps the greatest defensive player of all time, Lawrence Taylor.

Now, before you close this article in outrage for such a comparison, let me share a few thoughts. No one is comparing Parsons to Taylor in terms of what they mean for football history. Not even in who they are as football players.

Micah Parsons is only 11 games into his pro career, so it would be foolish to assume he's the "next LT" already. But we do know there are some similarities already between the Cowboys rookie and one of the most influential players in the history of the NFL.

The first of which is the fact that only one player has ever won Defensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. It's Lawrence Taylor, who racked up 9.5 sacks in 1981. Parsons is already at nine sacks with six games left to go.

Despite the Dallas Cowboys losing three of their last four games, Parsons' strong level of play has not wavered. Let's take a look at some of the numbers.

Micah Parsons is:

• 2nd in the NFL in QB Knockdowns (14).
• 2nd in the NFL in tackles for loss (15).
• 6th in the NFL in QB pressures (31).
• Tied for 3rd in the NFL in ESPN's Pass Rush Win Rate (25%).
• 1st in The Athletic's Pressure Index (before Week 12 Sunday's games) at 21.1%.

Here's where the comparisons get interesting for the Cowboys' rookie, though. Parsons is one of the league's leaders in pressures, sacks, knockdowns, even though he's not a full-time pass rusher. Per The Athletic, Parsons has gotten those stats in only 209 pass-rushing snaps.

Compare it to these players' number of pass-rushing snaps (before Week 12 Sunday's games):

• Maxx Crosby, 371
• Matt Judon, 279
• Myles Garrett, 303

Even with close to 100 pass-rushing snaps less, the Dallas Cowboys' LB/DE is up there with the best of the best in the NFL!

That's where the early comparisons to Lawrence Taylor have a certain level of merit. Will Parsons eclipse 142 sacks? Will he average 14 sacks per season like Taylor did between 1984 and 1990? Will he earn EIGHT First-Team All-Pro honors? Hey, probably not.

But Taylor revolutionized the NFL. The Hybrid DE/LB was born in the 1970s, but when LT arrived in the NFL, teams found out that they could play such a position every down. He was the perfect player to take football defenses a step further.

Teams had to look for different offensive tackles to deal with such a rare combination of speed and power. They had to account for that pass-rushing menace's ability to drop back into coverage.

Does Micah Parsons have the skillset to revolutionize football as LT did? Bucky Brooks from NFL.com believes so:

"Sure, Lawrence Taylor is the only rookie to ever win the award — and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as one of the most dominant defenders of the modern era — but I believe No. 11 could revolutionize the game in a similar fashion as a hybrid defender with A-plus pass-rush skills."

Micah Parsons is not that far away from the All-Time rookie record for sacks in a single season. But the Dallas Cowboys have a player that not only cares about that, he cares about being great.

"I have a hunger within myself to be great," Parsons said on Sunday.

To have the possibility of being the second rookie ever to win Defensive Player of the Year should be a sign that Parson's hunger is paying off.

To hear more about Parsons' impressive rookie season, check out my show A to Z Sports Dallas Primetime! 

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Featured image via Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports