It is a great day to be a fan of the Green Bay Packers and an even greater day to consume the litany of content surrounding the Packers' biggest acquisition since free agent Reggie White was signed 32 years ago.
While countless others in the Packers media sphere have you covered on the big-picture implications of this trade, specifically what it means for Green Bay's Super Bowl chances both this year and for many years to come, I wanted to give you the best illustration of what Parsons will actually look like in the Packers defense right away.
Well, maybe not right away… Parsons is new to Jeff Hafley's scheme and can't be expected to do much more than pin his ears back over the first 2 weeks and get to the quarterback (the Packers play 2 games over the next 14 days). However once Hafley's newest toy gets acclimated to the system, things start to get really interesting.
**Where will Micah Parsons line up?**
Anywhere.
The Packers didn't surrender anyone at either Edge or Linebacker to get this trade over the line, so they've essentially added Micah Parsons to a group we already felt quite good about entering 2025. The versatility Parsons brings is something Dallas didn't always exploit. Jeff Hafley has a great opportunity to get creative with Parsons among a much deeper front seven.
In nickel defense (which Hafley ran on 65% of snaps last year), Parsons obviously slots in on the edge opposite Rashan Gary, taking the place of Lukas Van Ness who may kick inside to 3-tech especially on passing downs.
When the Packers play their base 4-3 defense, not only can you keep Parsons as a major threat off the edge, you can also kick him back to his native off-ball linebacker spot, joining forces with Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper to create the fastest, scariest base LB trio in football, all while retaining your original two edge rushers in Gary and Van Ness with depth off the bench in the form of Barryn Sorrell, Kingsley Enagbare & others.
Since converting to edge rusher full time three years ago, Parsons has played 119 coverage snaps for the Cowboys. Compare that to Rashan Gary who has played just 8 coverage snaps over the same time frame.
Micah's tantalizing 4.36s 40-yard dash time makes Walker & Cooper's 4.51s scores sound slow. Bear in mind the latter pair are in the 97th percentile of NFL linebackers in the 40 — the league has simply never encountered an athlete like Micah Parsons. He would be the second fastest cornerback on the Packers depth chart, two one-hundredths of a second slower than speedster Bo Melton while carrying an additional 61lbs.
That athleticism allows Parsons to line up wherever he damn well pleases. Double-A gap pressure with Parsons & Cooper? Sounds good to me. Dropping off into coverage to match a tight end or slot receiver in the hook/curl? He can do that too. Pin his ears back and run literal rings around your offensive tackle? That's what he was born to do.
Oh and don't get me started on running through your interior linemen. Parsons has 83 career pass rushing snaps as a mugged up linebacker. His PFF grade on these plays is 99.9. No, that's not a typo. 99.9. The next closest player is at 92.1. That player? Edgerrin Cooper.
This duo is an interior offensive lineman's worst nightmare.
**How much will Parsons play?**
Parsons played on 83% of snaps last season when healthy in Dallas. He played even more often in previous seasons. That's a step up from how the Packers have been utilizing Rashan Gary, who played just 59% of snaps last season for the Packers.
Premiere edge rushers do not play as many snaps as some fans often think. Teams like to give these guys breathers and spare them for obvious passing downs. However Parsons has an incredibly high motor — you don't amass 350 pressures over 67 career games without being a certified psychopath.
**Getting home with three, four and five**
To win the Super Bowl, you have to figure out a way to get to the quarterback without jeopardizing your secondary. The speed concerns in the Packers' DB room are valid — they could be starting two natural slot defenders at outside corner and a free safety in the slot. Not the kind of skillsets that make you feel comfortable blitzing 6 guys and playing Cover-0 on the back end.
Instead the Packers will need to get home with 4 (and sometimes even 3) pass rushers this season. Parsons is a force multiplier due to the way he can command double teams and expose everyone else to 1-on-1 matchups.
**What about stopping the run?**
This is the one question the Packers will be asked over and over again in the coming weeks. They've just had to sacrifice their premiere interior defender in Kenny Clark to land a generational pass rushing talent.
Parsons has never been an elite run defender. His career PFF run defense grades of 61.4, 73.8, 65.9 & 65.5 are above average, but pale in comparison to his astonishing pass rushing grades of 93.0, 92.0, 93.7 & 91.6.
Parsons is by no means a liability when opponents hand the ball off, but when compared with the run stopping ability of the edge defenders the Packers already had on the roster, this upgrade is only marginal. Overall, this is a net downgrade for the Packers' run defense.
For what it's worth, I don't think trading Kenny Clark is indicative of how confident the Packers are in their defensive interior. It was much more Jerry Jones & the Cowboys who pushed for Kenny Clark to be a part of this package, rather than the Packers looking for an excuse to ship off a veteran.
Between Clark & TJ Slaton, the Packers must replace almost 1,200 snaps on the D-Line from last year. Devonte Wyatt, who played just 366 snaps last season, steps into a massive role as DT1 on the roster. The Packers often kept him on the sidelines on early downs last year, saving him up to tee off on passing downs where he found tons of success (12.8% pressure rate was one of the highest marks among NFL DTs).
It'll be interesting to see if the Packers expand Wyatt's role into full-time defensive tackle, or instead follow the same approach as last year, placing the expectation on Georgia rookies Warren Brinson & Nazir Stackhouse to shoulder to load on early downs alongside familiar faces of Colby Wooden & Karl Brooks.
There are worse ideas than essentially gathering an amalgamation of Kirby Smart's front seven over the past five years and hoping it pans out.