Packer Central

After Testing Confirms Torn ACL, Micah Parsons Makes Bold Prediction

The worst-case scenario has been confirmed, with Micah Parsons having suffered a torn ACL during Sunday’s loss to the Broncos. Here’s what Parsons and his teammates had to say.
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons (1) walks off the field after suffering a torn ACL at Denver.
Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons (1) walks off the field after suffering a torn ACL at Denver. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – As feared, Green Bay Packers defensive star Micah Parsons suffered a torn ACL on Sunday at the Denver Broncos.

Parsons’ debut season, which was on an All-Pro trajectory, is over. And given the late-season timing of the injury, he probably will be sidelined for the start of next season, too.

“I may be sidelined, but I am not defeated,” he said as part of this lengthy post on X.

In 2022, Rashan Gary suffered a torn ACL against the Lions on Nov. 6. He missed the start of training camp but was on the field for Week 1 against the Bears on Sept. 10.

Using that same 10-month timeline, Parsons could be back on the field around Week 5, though that comes with the caveat that every injury is different, every surgery is different, every player is different and every rehab is different.

Parsons wants nothing to do with that timeline. With an eye apparently on Week 1, he made this bold proclamation in a separate post on X.

Gary said he talked to Parsons, “When I came in (the locker room). I told him to keep his head up and we’re going to finish strong for him. That’s what I told him. I’m going to keep in contact with him throughout what he’s doing. That was my first message to him. It hurt. It hurt.”

For the 26-year-old Parsons, who relies on his explosiveness more than some pass rushers, the injury could alter the rest of his career. He also relies on a relentless approach in getting to the quarterback, with that mindset likely to help him in his recovery.

“I will rise again,” he concluded on his X post.

The Packers acquired Parsons before the start of the regular season in a blockbuster trade with the Dallas Cowboys. The trade cost the Packers two first-round picks, Kenny Clark and a four-year, $188 million contract extension.

He is the personification of the risk and reward of such seismic transactions. The reward was obvious. Parsons was excellent in every way imaginable. He entered Sunday ranked third in the NFL with 12.5 sacks and first with 76 pressures, according to Next Gen Stats. He made everyone around him better, he made big plays in key moments and he fit seamlessly in the locker room.

The risk is obvious, too. Parsons was acquired to help the Packers win the Super Bowl. He won’t be on the field to help them in that pursuit this year, he might not be the same player next year, and there are limited assets in terms of draft picks and cap space to help the roster.

“Yeah, it’s going to be tough,” to make up for the loss of Parsons, coach Matt LaFleur said. “It’s going to be tough. It’s not going to be one individual that can do that. I think it’s the collective, it’s everybody playing at the to the best of their ability.

“And, like I said before, they’re going to have to feed off one another and rally around each other, and it’s going to be opportunities for other guys to get in there, and they’re going to have to be impactful.”

Parsons’ debut season with the Packers ended with 12.5 sacks in 14 games. In the process, he became the first player in NFL history to start his career with five consecutive seasons of 12-plus sacks. 

According to Pro Football Focus, he’s third with 79 pressures and fourth in pass-rush win rate even while being double- and triple-teamed more than any edge rusher. His first forced fumble of the season came on Sunday and set up the Packers to take an early lead.

Parsons and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, who’s also out for the season, combined for 16 sacks. Everyone else on the roster has 17.

“Sh**, we’ve still got a good pass rush,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “Our pass rush is still good. Yeah, we’re losing a big-time player and a guy that can get to the quarterback like no other, as we’ve seen, but we’ve still got a lot of good guys that can get to the QB.

“If other teams don’t respect who we have, then that’s on them. Sh**, I hope they don’t f***ing use chip and try to chip our ends and stuff like that, what they’ve been doing all season. If they don’t do that, that’s just going to be more for them to eat. It is what it is. We’ll see what they do, though.”

Parsons was everything the Packers could have hoped for and more. At times, he was a one-man wrecking crew. There were games in which he had more pressures than everyone else on the defense combined.

In the win against Chicago last week, Parsons was held without a sack but had eight of the team’s 18 pressures.

“Micah Parsons had an unbelievable game last week,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said on Thursday. “I mean, he totally affected the game, but he didn’t have a sack. So, if you’re going to be results-based, then you can call it what you want. But if you want to look deep and look at the whole process and how he truly affected every play, he had a really good game.”

It will be up to Hafley to pick up the pieces. Rashan Gary got off to a hot start but hasn’t had a sack since Week 8. Lukas Van Ness is finally back from a foot injury. Linebackers Edgerrin Cooper and Quay Walker have shown juice as pass rushers.

The reality is the Packers rank sixth in the NFL with 294.6 yards allowed per game and eighth with 20.1 points allowed per game with Parsons. Without Parsons, the Packers last season ranked fifth with 314.5 yards allowed per game and sixth with 19.9 points allowed per game.

After one of the worst days in Packers history, the Packers will have a short turnaround before their rematch against the Bears. If Green Bay can win, it will be back in first place in the NFC North.

“Get right to work. Get right to work,” Gary said. “Hold onto this loss for the next one-and-a-half hours and understand we got a short week, we got to flip the page. Get back on the Bears. I think they had a hell of a game today. Just got to get back on track and that’s what we’re going to do.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.