Packers Injury Timelines for Micah Parsons, Tucker Kraft, Devonte Wyatt, More

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers were eliminated from the NFL playoffs by the Chicago Bears on Saturday.

Make that what was left of the Packers was eliminated.

Headlined by two of the biggest injuries of the NFL season, several members of the walking wounded – make that limping wounded – provided updates on Monday as the players packed up their belongings and headed their separate ways for the offseason.

DE Micah Parsons: Torn ACL

The Packers were leading the Broncos in Week 15 when Micah Parsons suffered a knee injury. They ended up losing that game and every other game, finishing with a five-game skid.

When will Parsons return?

“Sometime in September,” he said. “I want to be at a really good spot. I think so far, they say I’m flying, so whatever that means. But there’s a timing standpoint they want, but I don’t think I’ll be on IR [actually, PUP] – I would say that – to start the season.

“I think lofty, I’d be saying Week 1, but realistically, probably like Week 3, Week 4, just to make sure and just getting back into football, just practicing hard and getting ready to sustain, taking my body through what I go through, so I think it’s just more of that. Like I play so free and go [so hard] and chip [blocks], and I got to learn how to simulate that in practice before they just send me out there on the field. So, I think it’s more of that so I just feel like myself.”

Beyond the sacks and pressures, the Packers badly missed Parsons’ presence.

TE Tucker Kraft: Torn ACL

Tucker Kraft had a monster game during the Week 8 win at Pittsburgh. The following week against Carolina, he suffered a torn ACL in a freak incident in which Sean Rhyan got taken out by a defender and kicked Kraft in the knee.

When will he be back?

“I’m not sure exactly how much of that information I can divulge, but I can tell you it’ll be more like my going into Year 2 when I was coming off that torn pec,” he said. “I went into camp and started on the PUP. That’s probably how it will be this year, too. My timeline, I’m not in a race or anything like that. It happened. By the time Week 1 rolls around, I’ll be 10 months post-surgery and hopefully bulletproofed by then.”

RT Zach Tom: Torn Patellar Tendon

Zach Tom sustained a partially torn patellar tendon against Denver. He missed the final three games of the regular season but hoped to be back for the playoffs.

That didn’t happen, though, and he expects to have surgery soon. There’s a six-month recovery so he could be on the field for the start of training camp.

“I’m leaning towards getting surgery,” he said. “I just want to get it out of the way, get it over with and move on.”

DT Devonte Wyatt: Broken Fibula, Torn Ligament

After an injury against Dallas cost him two games, Wyatt suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the win at Detroit on Thanksgiving. He said a full recovery will take up to five months. He said his goal is to be on the field for Day 1 of training camp.

“This is my first year having a major injury like this,” he said. “It taught me that I really love football and I got to take advantage of every moment I get on the field because an injury or any little thing can keep you away from it. It just lets you know how much you really love it and miss it, and how much you really want to be out there with the guys playing instead of just watching on TV.”

CB Nate Hobbs: Torn MCL

The third time most certainly was not the charm for cornerback Nate Hobbs.

A knee injury sustained during the first days of training camp sidelined him through Week 1. Another knee injury kept him out for four games at midseason. Finally, he suffered a torn MCL when he broke up a pass in the end zone against Baltimore but collided with receiver Zay Flowers.

“The first week, you would have thought I tore my ACL,” he said. “It was definitely hurting. It definitely came with a lot of pain. A lot of emotional pain, physical pain, especially for me, for my team, of course. I just felt helpless looking at the game.

“And I really do feel like if a couple of our guys were out there – if Micah was out there, if my boy Tuck was out there, if I was out there – I feel like this game would have went totally different, you know what I'm saying? And that sucks. From a team aspect it is a hard year, but from an individual aspect, from me it was one of my toughest years, if not the toughest year I've had playing professional football.”

Hobbs signed a four-year, $48 million contract in free agency but played only 32 percent of the defensive snaps.

“Somebody just came full speed into my knee from the side and it could have snapped. But it didn’t,” he said. “I’m gracious to God about that. MCLs you don’t have to have surgery or anything. Probably another month and I’ll be good to go.”

C Sean Rhyan: Bone Bruise

Free agent-to-be center Sean Rhyan’s knee injury in the final moments against Chicago cost the Packers a 10-second runoff.

“Yeah, we’re good,” he said. “Structurally all good. Got a bone bruise and maybe some swelling but everything’s cool and checked out.”

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