Micah Parsons is not expected to practice this week, which takes him off the field for Sunday night’s game against the Dallas Cowboys. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported it Monday, and the timing could not be more pointed.
That was the game. Everybody circled it in August. The player Dallas traded away, back on the field against the team that traded him, in prime time. It is not happening.
Green Bay should be glad.
Nobody Comes Back From This on a Schedule
Parsons, 27, tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee on a non-contact pass rush in Week 15 last December against Denver. He had it surgically repaired, went on injured reserve in December, and opened 2026 on the physically unable to perform list. He has missed the first five weeks.
In August he said a Week 6 return was “very realistic.” That was August. Players say that in August. The actual timeline is now vague enough that the Packers are only willing to say they hope he returns at some point this month, and the start of his 21-day practice window has not been pinned down.
Ten months removed from a torn ACL is not the moment to throw a pass rusher into an emotional prime-time game against his former employer. That is how a four-week delay turns into a four-month one.
What Green Bay Paid for Him
Dallas sent Parsons to Green Bay in August 2025 for Kenny Clark and two first-round picks. He then signed a four-year, $188 million extension that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time.
That contract runs for years. The revenge game runs for three hours. There is no version of this where rushing him back to play the Cowboys in October serves the investment.
Parsons was the 12th overall pick by Dallas in 2021. He will get his shot at them eventually, probably in a healthier year, probably when it decides something.
The Packers Are Managing a Defense in Pieces
Green Bay is 3-2 and just lost defensive tackle Javon Hargrave for the season to a torn Achilles, confirmed by tests on Monday. Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper tore his Achilles in Week 4. The front seven the Packers planned for in the spring does not exist right now.
That is exactly the environment where a team talks itself into rushing its best defender back. The pressure to have Parsons on the field Sunday night is obvious, and Green Bay is apparently not giving in to it.
Patience Is the Only Good Option
A healthy Parsons in November and December is worth more than a compromised Parsons in a Week 6 narrative game. The Packers appear to understand that, even with their defense thinning out by the week.
Dallas fans will have to wait to boo him. Green Bay gets to keep the asset it paid two first-round picks and $188 million for. That is the trade worth making this week.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.