How close is Penn State product Parsons to being NFL's best defensive player?

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Week after week, Micah Parsons keeps doing fantastic things. He's only played 13 games during his rookie season in the NFL, but the linebacker already has emerged as one of the best overall defensive players in the league.

To the surprise of no one, really, who watched him at Penn State.

It was easy to see a couple of years ago with the Nittany Lions what Parsons could become, based on his incredible physical skills, dogged pursuit and tremendous tackling ability. Once Micah Parsons got his hands on an offensive player, that guy went down. Always.

Parsons, the No. 12 overall pick in this year's draft, had another huge game Sunday in the Cowboys' 27-20 win over the Washington Football Team. He had two sacks, giving him at least one sack in six straight games, plus this big highlight:

Parsons has 12 sacks, just 2.5 shy of the NFL rookie record of 14.5, plus 17 tackles for loss and 75 total tackles (57 solo).

At this stage, he's a shoo-in to win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

But some are starting to wonder if Parsons is more than just the best rookie defender. Could he already be the best defensive player in the NFL?

Here's what former Steelers safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark had to say Sunday:

Going into this past weekend's NFL action, these were the odds for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, from Odds Shark:

Myles Garrett +225
T.J. Watt +250
Trevon Diggs +450
Matthew Judon +800
Aaron Donald +1400
Trey Hendrickson +2000
JC Jackson +2500
Micah Parsons +2800

It will be interesting to see the odds updated this week, after his great performance Sunday.

UPDATE: Monday, 3:30 p.m.

Wow, Parsons' odds shot up big time! Here are the updated odds from today:

T. J. Watt +300
Myles Garrett +300
Micah Parsons +400
Trevon Diggs +100
Matt Judon +1000

A long shot heading into the weekend action, Parsons now is very much in the race for DPOY. But there is one thing to keep in mind.

As good as Parsons is already, the Steelers' T.J. Watt is still having a better season staitistically as the top linebacker in the NFL. Here's a comparison:

Watt: league-leading 16 sacks, 16 TFL, 48 tackles, 4 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 27 QB hits
Parsons: 12 sacks, 17 TFL, 75 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, 27 QB hits

Watt has played two fewer games (11) than Parsons (13), which is a big reason for the disparity in overall tackle numbers.

As good as Parsons already is, he may not beat out Watt for best linebacker this year, let alone best overall defensive player.

But that's not exactly the point, though.

The fact that we're already even talking about Parsons in the discussion for Defensive Player of the Year shows just how remarkable the rookie has been this season at only 22 years old. And even if he doesn't win the top defensive award this season, it looks to be only a matter of time before he does capture that honor.

Has Parsons surprised even himself? He was asked that by Kim Jones of the NFL Network following Sunday's win.