Green Bay Packers outside linebacker Micah Parsons of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is expected miss at least the first half of the 2026 National Football League regular season according to Kaylie Wittwer of packerstalk.com on Monday. Parsons tore his anterior cruciate ligament on December 14 against the Denver Broncos in a 34-26 Green Bay loss. It was a devastating loss for the Packers, who had Super Bowl aspirations, but then had to hobble into the postseason without their star defensive player. Green Bay faced the Chicago Bears in the NFC Wildcard round. Chicago came through with a 31-27 victory in an all-NFC North Divisional playoff matchup.
At the time of Parsons’s injury, there were hopes he would return sometime in October. Now according to Wittwer, the more realistic timeline is somewhere between week nine (which begins November 4) and week 13 (which begins December 2).
It is interesting that Parsons tore his anterior cruciate ligament the same day that Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL while with the Kansas City Chiefs in a game against the Los Angeles Chargers. However, according to Chris Pownall of the Last Word on Sports, Mahomes has made significant progress in his rehabilitation and could actually be ready for training camp.
Parsons played one season with the Packers in 2025 since the blockbuster trade with the Dallas Cowboys. In 13 games, Parsons had 41 combined tackles (19 solo tackles and 22 assisted tackles), 12 tackles for a loss, 27 quarterback hits, one pass deflection, two forced fumbles and 12.5 sacks.
