GREEN BAY, Wis. — Micah Parsons doesn’t sound like someone rushing to play football.
Of course, the Green Bay Packers first-team All-Pro edge rusher wants to, but he understands that ACL rehab (Parsons revealed Wednesday he also underwent a meniscus procedure) doesn’t happen with the snap of two fingers.
Parsons spoke with reporters at Lambeau Field for the first time since locker cleanout day, when he estimated that he’d miss the first three or four games of the 2026 season. Has that expectation changed?
“No, I think the goal has always just been not right now, but longevity with my career here, and I think they want that approach,” Parsons said. “We have a pretty strong nine-month (no football) rule … there’s no good outcomes with players coming back early from an ACL, especially if you had other things that had to get fixed up. It’s just all about completing the rehab to the best of our ability and then seeing where we’re at from there.”
Parsons, who added that he’s “extremely happy” with where he is in rehab, underwent ACL surgery on Dec. 29 after suffering the injury on Dec. 14 in Denver. Nine months from then is Sept. 29, the Tuesday before the Packers visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4. Even if Parsons returns to practice that Wednesday, he realistically wouldn’t face the Buccaneers that Sunday. The Packers host the Chicago Bears the following Sunday in Week 5 and host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football in Week 6. As of now, one of those two games figures to be Parsons’ most realistic return date if all goes well over the next four months.
“It’s about knowing when to go, and it’s all about feeling great,” Parsons said. “Like, I don’t think Gutey (general manager Brian Gutekunst) or Nate (head athletic trainer Nate Weir) or Matt (head coach Matt LaFleur) wants me to go out there if I’m not at 100 percent and risk reinjury and lose me for the year, and it’s just a waste of a year. Everything is about playoffs and winning football games deep in (the season). Yeah, those (Bears and Cowboys) games are important, but … everyone wants me at 100 and wants me in those (late-season) games so we can make this championship run.”
Parsons has done the majority of his rehab in Texas and recently returned to Green Bay to be around the team during OTAs. He said Weir actually flew to Dallas to check on him.
“He became a wife,” Parsons said. “He called me more than anybody in my family, texted me more than anybody in my family. This guy, he probably became my best friend throughout this process. … It’s been nothing but love and support from the staff here. That’s something I really appreciate throughout this. Between calling my doctors, asking me if I need machines, throughout my whole process, I never felt more valued in my life to an organization in terms of making sure I’m OK mentally, not even just the injury all the time. ‘How’s your mental? How was this week? What do you have this week? Did you feel anything?’ It’s great.”
Parsons has envisioned what it’ll be like when he returns, whenever that may be this coming season, but he’s also struggled to move past that December afternoon in Denver.
“Not only is it hard to accept that I’mma miss more time than what I want, but obviously, hard to accept the injury. It constantly replays in my brain,” Parsons said. “You don’t even know how much time I spent on ChatGPT about my injury. … I just can’t accept where I’m at. I’m like, ‘Man, how do I keep progressing and progressing?’ And it’s just non-stop.
“I haven’t accepted it yet, but I work hard as hell every day trying to make sure that I will be better when (I) come out of this.”
These days, Parsons isn’t attending team meetings and instead is rehabbing in the morning. He then joins the team outside for practice, where his position coach, DeMarcus Covington, tells Parsons where he’d be on plays in Green Bay’s new defense under coordinator Jonathan Gannon.
Parsons has never been one to hold his tongue when the cameras are on, but there were no grand proclamations on Wednesday, mainly an understanding that this will take time. Not necessarily more time than he initially forecasted, but time, nonetheless.
“We’re only in month five,” Parsons said. “All I can do is just keep working, keep praying and come back when I’m 100 percent.”