Micah Parsons ‘100 Percent’ Chasing Legends Like Reggie White

A lot of things can change with just one phone call.

In 1993, it was a voicemail left on Reggie White’s answering machine.

“Reggie, this is God, I want you to play in Green Bay.”

Shortly thereafter, White shocked the world by signing with the NFL’s version of Siberia, the Green Bay Packers.

Thirty-two years later, Brian Gutekunst made a phone call to Jerry Jones.

We can’t be sure that he jokingly claimed to be a deity, but the potential to add another divine pass rusher, superstar Micah Parsons, was simply too much to pass up.

Gutekunst typically has been loathe to trade draft choices but sent two first-round picks and Kenny Clark to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for Parsons, the 26-year-old who has started his career with Hall of Fame-caliber production.

Parsons, perhaps pandering to his new fanbase, shared a video on social media. It was a string of highlight videos of himself, followed by clips of the man whose ghost he will be chasing in Green Bay. The Minister of Defense himself, Reggie White.

Perhaps there was some symbolism by the first clip of White in which he tossed aside Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Larry Allen with his signature hump move.

That’s the player and legacy that Parsons is chasing.

“Yeah, 100 percent, bro,” Parsons said during his introductory news conference. “Reggie is like one of the GOATs. I’m just looking at his stats and the fact he had like 70 sacks in like five years is just outrageous to me. This guy’s this freak. I just learned more history about him today, just about how he’s the first free agent and how he came here and won championships.

“People make the comparisons, but I just looked at him like somebody who won. He came here and did that. I think I can do that, too. I think I can do anything I put my mind to. I looked on that wall and I saw Brett Favre, I saw Reggie, I saw all those legends, and I was like ‘I’ve got to be there.’ You go in the draft room and they’re all having their hands up. They’re all having that moment. I’m looking for that moment. I’m going to take advantage of this moment and maximize it to reach that moment.”

Parsons is right, Reggie White is one of the greatest players of all time.

The fact that Parsons is mentioned in the same breath as White, the addition of him cannot be understated. In a world of exaggeration and hyperbole, it’s hard to find ways to oversell the impact that Parsons could make in Green Bay.

There are two men in NFL history that have had 12-plus sacks in each of the first four seasons of his career. One was White, who is arguably the greatest defensive player in the history of the sport.

The other is Parsons.

Invoking the name of White is a statement, but that is the type of player that Parsons has been early in his career.

For years, fans and pundits have lamented Green Bay’s conservative approach to roster building. The phrase “all-in” was bantered about ad nauseum. This move, however, is exactly what that is, and the Packers have proven themselves willing to pay the price for a player of Parsons’ caliber.

Make no mistake about it, the trade for Parsons was historic. Historic enough that he'll wear the jersey number one for the first time since Curly Lambeau wore it in 1926.

The Packers have had big acquisitions in the past. In 2019 they signed Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Adrian Amos and Billy Turner on the first day of free agency. Za’Darius Smith was a star, and those four helped the Packers reach back-to-back NFC Championship Games.

That flurry of moves pales in comparison to acquiring Parsons.

The closest conversation in the modern era would be in 2006, when Ted Thompson, famously hesitant to sign a free agent, spent big on Charles Woodson.

Woodson, at the time, however, was more name than game. He had fallen out of favor with the Raiders. Woodson has told the story about how he only had one real offer to play cornerback, and it was from Green Bay.

Woodson got over a rocky start in Green Bay and became one of the best players in the team’s history, including being the last player to win the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award in 2009.

Woodson became an impact player.

Parsons already is one, and he's motivated to be even better.

"I can do anything I put my mind to. Coming in and looking at that wall, I saw Brett Favre, I saw Reggie, I saw all those legends and I said, 'I gotta be there'."

With all due respect to some of the good players on Green Bay’s roster, Parsons will be the best player on the team from the moment he steps into the locker room. That’s the type of impact he has made.

It’s the type of impact White had when he left Philadelphia to sign with the Packers in 1993. White instantly became the cornerstone of a defense that would rise to the top of the NFL. In turn, Brett Favre reached peak form after White’s arrival.

They Packers were the No. 1 defense in the league when they won Super Bowl XXXI. In that game, he slammed the door shut with three sacks of New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe in the fourth quarter.

That was three years after nobody thought the Packers would have a chance of signing White.

Similarly, the discussion surrounding a potential acquisition of Parsons was waived off under the same idea that the Packers would simply be left at the altar again.

Not this time. The Packers are hoping Parsons can have a similar impact to their defense like the one White had on the team in the 1990s. When White sacked Bledsoe on the second consecutive play in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, radio broadcaster Jim Irwin famously shouted, “Reggie got him again!”

Since Parsons wanted to invoke White after the trade, perhaps Gutekunst did, as well.

A generational defensive player was available from an NFC East foe.

Green Bay got him, again.

The #Packers made one of the biggest trades in franchise history for one reason. One word from GM Brian Gutekunst, used repeatedly this evening, said it all. ⬇️https://t.co/oocW3VfPoG
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 29, 2025

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