The Green Bay Packers may finally have a clearer timeline for Micah Parsons’ return, and it points beyond the short-term buzz that had been building around a possible Week 6 comeback.
Parsons, who was acquired before the 2025 season in a trade with the Dallas Cowboys, tore his ACL late in the year and has missed every game of 2026 so far. That absence has lingered over a Green Bay team that has already absorbed a brutal injury list. Edgerrin Cooper, Javon Hargrave, Zach Tom and Jayden Reed are all done for the season, yet the Packers have still managed to stay afloat at 3-2 through five games.
There is at least some good news coming. Josh Jacobs is expected to return as the starting running back in Week Seven, and Parsons is moving closer to his own comeback as well.
For a while, the hope was that the All-Pro pass rusher could be back for Green Bay’s Week 6 meeting with his former team. That no longer appears to be the plan.
The Packers have not opened his practice window, choosing instead to make sure he is fully healthy and not exposed to soft tissue problems by rushing him back too soon.
Jonathan Jones of The Athletic reported Saturday morning that the expectation around the league is now for Parsons to return in Week 9, when Green Bay hosts the New England Patriots. Jones wrote:
“A league source tells me Parsons might not return until Week 9, against the Patriots on Nov. 8.
The Packers did not open his practice window this week to begin his return. In Week 7, Green Bay plays the Detroit Lions before hosting the Panthers on “’Thursday Night Football’; believing Parsons needs more than a week to ramp up, the short-week turnaround would be difficult to pull off.”
If that is the target, then Green Bay could make the move to designate Parsons for return this week. Once that happens, he would be allowed to practice with the team, and the Packers would have 21 days to activate him.
Parsons’ impact in Green Bay has already been massive. Last season, he became the first player in NFL history to record 12+ sacks in each of his first five seasons. He finished with 12.5 sacks in 14 games in his first year with the Packers and earned First Team All-Pro honors.
He may not be headed for that kind of workload in 2026, but Green Bay is clearly hoping his return can push an already strong defense under Jonathan Gannon even higher.
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