The injury to Green Bay Packers’ star edge rusher Micah Parsons sent shockwaves through the NFL. Not only was it the second high profile torn ACL to rock the NFL, but it also dramatically shifts the chances of the Packers winning a Super Bowl. Parsons’ gravity and force as a pass rusher completely changed the outlook of the Packers defense when the blockbuster trade was made in the offseason, and now without him Packers’ defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley needs to reach deep into the bag of tricks to keep the Packers Super Bowl hopes alive.
If the saying “a rising tide lifts all boats” was one person, it would be Parsons on this defense. The raw numbers by themselves are just nuts: Parsons’ 12.5 sacks are tied for the most in any single season for a Packer defender since Za’Darius Smith in 2020, his 19.4% pressure rate is also the highest for any Packer in that same time period (min. 200 pass rush snaps).
But even when you dig beyond that, the impact of Parsons when on the field can be felt at every level of the defense. Green Bay’s biggest weakness on defense is their outside cornerbacks; Carrington Valentine and Keisean Nixon are both volatile on the outside and better playing the ball in front of them instead of consistently making plays downfield. Well, with Parsons on the field the offense has to change how they play. Parsons is tied for second in the NFL in quick pressures with 33, meaning he’s getting to the QB in three seconds or less. Defensive backs know the ball has to be out quick, so they can play aggressively downhill, keeping them in the flat to shut off any water on checkdowns.
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Hafley weaponizes Parsons’ speed in the defense, forcing QBs to get rid of the ball quickly by showing various pressure looks without actually sending blitzes, knowing that Parsons can also get home quickly. If the Packers can get you to pass protect using five one-on-ones instead of helping on Parsons, they like those odds.
How the Packers will rebound without Parsons is going to be one of the most fascinating things to watch as the season comes to an end. Without Parsons last season, the bones and schematics of the Packers’ defense was still good, but the defense lacked the punch up front. The biggest issue is that without Parsons there’s nobody who can get to the QB quick enough to cause problems for opposing offenses. Nobody else on the Packers has more than seven quick pressures this season, and nobody up front has a pressure rate over 13%.Â
The Packers’ edge defenders outside of Parsons are all built similarly: bulky, hulking pass rushers who win with power, but not enough flexibility or burst to truly make their power work consistently. If you combine pass rushers who win late, with an outside cornerback group that is a bit suspect when having to play downfield you get a defense susceptible to big plays and the reason why the Packers went out and traded for Micah Parsons.
So, with all of the reasons why Parsons changes their defense listed out above, it surely means this season is over, right? While I think their path to a Super Bowl gets much, much thinner without Parsons, I do think their defense is still talented enough and well coached, so they should still be a playoff-caliber team. Where they’ll have to adjust is by potentially bringing more pressure via blitzing.
In Hafley’s time as defensive coordinator, they’ve never blitzed more than 22% and mainly use those various fronts to cause confusion for the offensive line so their pass rushers can take advantage. Yet, without Parsons their blitz rate goes from 20.7% to 26.6%, a clear indication that they want to manufacture pressure using players from depth instead of just letting Parsons go to work.Â
I think LB Edgerrin Cooper could be the lynchpin behind the Packers’ defense continuing to tread water and not completely fold without Parsons. He’s grown a lot in his second year, especially in coverage, but where he’s at his best is as a blitzer. His speed is game changing, not exactly on Parsons level but it’s enough to force teams to account for him as a blitzer.
I even think LB Quay Walker can be an effective blitzer to help sort of recreate Parsons’ impact in the aggregate. I think pressures like this one, bringing Cooper as a blitzer, are going to be the pressure package du jour moving forward for Green Bay, because nobody else outside of Parsons quite has his closing speed as a blitzer. This play has Parsons on the field, but Cooper can win in this role.
It’s going to take a team effort to fill the DPOY-sized hole Parsons is leaving on the field for Green Bay, and it might knock them off the perch of Super Bowl contenders. However, I think Hafley and co. still have a talented roster that can win by recreating Parsons in the aggregate to keep the defense above average until he comes back in 2026.