NFL.com’s ‘Defining Number’ for Packers Shows Only Fraction of Big Problem

With Micah Parsons, the Green Bay Packers were a Super Bowl-contending team.

Without him, they were one of the worst teams in the NFL.

NFL.com’s Matt Okada had the “defining number” for each team with the 2026 season on the horizon. For the Packers, it was 78. That’s the number of pressures applied by Parsons before a season-changing loss at Denver, according to Next Gen Stats.

“Through Week 14, his 78 quarterback pressures were the most in the NFL and Green Bay sat atop the NFC North,” Okada wrote. “He then suffered a major knee injury in Week 15, and the Packers lost every game from that contest through the Wild Card Round.”

The Packers were 9-3-1 before facing the Broncos. With Parsons sustaining a torn ACL during the second half, they lost their final five games. With Parsons likely to miss the first four games, at least, the upcoming season “may be defined by how well it fares without him and how quickly he returns to full strength.”

Okada is right, obviously, but it runs deeper.

More Than Micah Parsons

Parsons led the Packers with 83 pressures. Rashan Gary, who was traded to Dallas in the offseason, was second with 47. Kingsley Enagbare, who signed with the Jets in free agency, was third with 24.

So, it’s not just that the Packers have to replace the pass rush provided by Parsons. They have to replace their top three pass rushers. Yes, Gary and Enagbare were flawed players. They still had better production than Green Bay’s returning players.

Combined, Parsons, Gary and Enagbare provided 154 pressures. Plus, Quay Walker, who signed with the Raiders in free agency, chipped in 12 and Colby Wooden, who was traded to the Colts, added 10. Along with one apiece by Nate Hobbs and Jamon Johnson, who were released, 178 pressures will not be on the field for the Packers to start the season.

That seems bad, and it is.

Especially when combined with this number.

Led by Karl Brooks (20 pressures), Devonte Wyatt (16) and Lukas Van Ness (16), the Packers’ returning players who should be in the lineup for Week 1 produced only 112 pressures.

That’s right. Of the team’s 290 pressures last season, only 38.6 percent will be in the lineup to start this season.

The Packers’ top pass rushers by 2025 pressures are defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who was released by the Vikings after providing 28 pressures, and linebacker Zaire Franklin, who was acquired in the Wooden trade after producing 21 pressures last season for the Colts.

If 78 is the defining number, this is the defining question: Do the Packers have enough pass rush to survive until Parsons is back on the field?

“Oh, 100 percent,” Parsons said during OTAs after the Josh Sweat trade rumors were put to bed. “Just looking at the depth that we have, between K.B., Hargrave, D-Wy, to see all three of those guys are going to be on the field at the same time, that’s enough right there. And between Barryn, Collin, how they’ve looked, and I see Dani and I see Luke and I think between all of us, I think Luke is someone that people sleep on the most, and I don’t know why.”

Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons (1) strip sacks New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Van Ness had 1.5 sacks and 16 pressures in nine games, Sorrell had 1.5 sacks and nine pressures in 13 games, Brenton Cox had one sack and six pressures in four games and Collin Oliver had zero sacks and four pressures in one game. Dani Dennis-Sutton is a rookie.

That’s not a lot of juice – Parsons’ optimism notwithstanding.

Sweat, by the way, had 12 sacks and 45 pressures last season for Arizona. The non-Parsons edge rushers who are under contract for the Packers combined for four sacks and 35 pressures.

Reason for Optimism

There is no bigger supporter of that indistinguished group than Parsons. Parsons would be the president of the Lukas Van Ness Fan Club, he spent the offseason working out with Sorrell and Oliver in Dallas, and he’s naturally a fan of Dennis-Sutton because he played at Penn State.

“Micah has been a great addition to our room over the past year,” Van Ness said, “not only coaching me and the rest of the guys and being a leader and he’s taught us a lot, and I think that he’s proud of the group we have and I think he knows we have a lot of potential to do some good things together.”

Hargrave and Franklin should add some juice to the defense, too, even if their best days are behind them.

“It’s tremendous,” Parsons said of those additions. Of Hargrave, he continued, “A guy that can get vertical. I think Hargrave is a guy that can really help D-Wy a lot.

“I don’t think he’s had – I mean, obviously, he had Kenny Clark, but I mean like that real 3-tech and the type of success Javon had in his career of winning and deep playoff runs and things he’s been able to do to affect the quarterback. So, I think they’re lucky to have each other and I just can’t wait to play next to those two guys.”

The Packers will be counting heavily on a full season from Van Ness, who missed eight games with a foot injury, the healthy return of Wyatt, who missed seven games, and the addition of Hargrave, who had productive seasons alongside new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon.

“One-on-ones. He creates a lot of one-on-ones,” Hargrave said. “If you can win on one-on-ones, you’re going to have a lot of production.”

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