Paul Bretl | 9/1/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers locker room is fully aware of the caliber of player that Micah Parsons is and what this addition means for their defense and the team as a whole.
“His play speaks for itself,” Rashan Gary said at his locker on Monday. “The name speaks for itself. I feel like the sky’s the limit for him. I feel like the sky’s the limit for our defensive line group. Just can’t wait to see him go.”
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Before trading for Parsons, the expectations for this Packers team were already high. But now, following the addition of one of the best defensive players in football, those expectations have managed to grow.
So much so that Rasheed Walker took to X after the trade was reported, declaring that the Packers would win this year’s Super Bowl. When asked about the post at his locker on Monday afternoon, Walker stuck with what he originally said.
“I think it upped our chances by a lot,” Walker said of the Super Bowl. “We got a solid pass rush across the whole line. I don’t think no one’s gonna be able to throw the ball like that on us. It’s gonna open up opportunities for our DBs and our offense, so yeah, I feel like Micah’s gonna have a good presence on the field and it’s gonna really be advantageous to us.”
Parsons joins the Packers after spending his four NFL seasons in Dallas. While hyperbole is popular in today’s sports landscape, it’s not hyperbole to say that Parsons is currently on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
He joins the Packers having made four Pro Bowls and three All-Pro teams. Since 2021, Parsons has recorded the fifth-most sacks in football during that span, along with two 100-plus pressure seasons.
Last year, despite missing four games, Parsons still ranked seventh among all defensive ends in pressures. It’s not only that Parsons wins often, but as Matt LaFleur mentioned, he often wins quickly.
“When he’s rushing, crazy good first step and just good lateral movement,” said Rasheed Walker, Parsons’ college teammate. “He’s just like a freak athlete. I feel like personally we could do a lot of stuff with him – stand him up, stand him over the center on third down, having him rush the edge.
“He played linebacker in college, he could run sideline to sideline, so I mean he’s going to definitely contribute a lot, and he could play running back.”
Parsons, on his own, can stuff the stat sheet, but his presence on the Packers’ defensive front will benefit the entire defense.
For one, in the week leading up to facing Parsons and the Packers defense, game planning for him “keeps you up at night,” LaFleur said from his own experiences.
On the field, if offenses choose to double-team or chip Parsons, that leaves Gary and others in favorable one-on-one matchups. If offenses don’t double-team Parsons, then in all likelihood, the ball better be coming out quickly. It’s truly a pick-your-poison scenario for opponents.
“It’s scary,” Gary said of the Packers’ defense. “It’s for sure scary with the pieces that we have. The guys that we have, especially with the mindsets we all have. Especially talking to him today, we’re kind of similar persons in terms of mindset. So it’s going to be scary for teams, for sure.”
Parsons has dominated as a pass rusher, but he also brings added versatility to the Packers’ defense. He can rush from the left or right side, line up across multiple gaps, and he also has over 800 snaps in his NFL career at off-ball linebacker.
In addition to Jeff Hafley getting a high-impact pass rusher, there is also the ability for Hafley to utilize him in a variety of ways in conjunction with Gary, Edgerrin Cooper, and others, allowing the Packers defense to throw a lot of different looks at opposing offenses.
So for opponents, it’s not only about figuring out how to slow Parsons, Cooper, Gary, or Xavier McKinney, but also about deciphering where they are lined up on each snap, and where those players are pre-snap may not be where they are aligned when the quarterback hits the top of his drop.
“Nightmares for the offensive side of the ball,” Cooper said. “I feel like Haf’s gonna have a pretty fun time with us, so ready to look towards that.”
Parsons was on the practice field for the first time on Monday as a member of the Packers. He took limited reps in his first practice of the summer, but Rasheed Walker expects Parsons to take on a larger role in practice as the week unfolds.