Where His Recovery Stands

It’s been a little over nine months since Micah Parsons went down in Denver, and the finish line is finally in sight. Parsons tore his ACL and damaged his meniscus in Week 15 last December while chasing Bo Nix, and he had reconstructive surgery soon after. He opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list and started the season there, which means he can’t play until the Packers have finished four games. Under the NFL’s new PUP rules, the team could have opened his 21-day practice window as soon as Week 2 was over, but as of this week they still haven’t.

Matt LaFleur hasn’t given much away. When he was asked about Parsons on September 17, he said it would probably be “a couple weeks” before he’s practicing, according to Heavy. Back in August, Parsons said he was running in a straight line again but still had to get comfortable changing direction, which is the part that matters most for a pass rusher who wins with speed and bend.

Circling the Cowboys Game

Parsons hasn’t been shy about the date he has in mind. He told reporters in August that a return in Week 6 against the Cowboys, his old team, is “very realistic” (FOX Sports), and that game is at Lambeau on Sunday night, October 18. The earliest he could actually suit up is one week earlier against the Bears. Either way, he’s said he and the medical staff have to get to the point where he’s feeling great before he’s cleared.

The way he talks about football has changed, too. In the cover story for this year’s Packers Yearbook, Parsons said the game had always come pretty easy to him until the injury. Now his approach is simple: “The only way to beat it is to work,” he told Packers.com. He’s also spent a lot of this time mentoring the younger players on the defense. Before he got hurt, Parsons had 12.5 sacks in 14 games, and the Packers didn’t win another game after he went down. Getting that player back, even for part of the season, could change everything for this defense.

Sources: Packers.com, Heavy via Yahoo Sports, FOX Sports, Athlon Sports.

Featured photo: All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.