Down the stretch of the 2012 season, the Dallas Cowboys went to a platoon system at right tackle, with Doug Free and Jermey Parnell splitting time there. The two figure to battle for snaps in training camp, too, but the competition hasn’t stopped Free from lending a helping hand to the younger Parnell when needed.
“Free has always helped me since I’ve been here,” Parnell told the team’s official website. “He’s been doing this for six years, so any type of thing, nuance that I haven’t seen, Free has got me. It’s like going to the big brother, as they say.”
Parnell credits his coaches with allowing him to develop over time, rather than tossing him to the wolves, and indeed, this approach seemed to pay off last year when, as part of the aforementioned platoon system, Parnell held his own.
But the Ole Miss product knows he has a ways to go to get to the level he hopes to--that of a full-time starter in the NFL.
“I’m further than I was when I started, but I still have improvements to make,” Parnell said. “You never look at this thing like I’ve arrived, because you’ll never arrive, even to your 15th year or plus that, guys can always continue to get better.”
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