Packers Suddenly Need More From One Rookie Than They Planned

The Packers are looking to rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton to energize their pass rush as star linebacker Micah Parsons recovers from injury, marking a critical opportunity for the young player's NFL debut.

The Packers may have to spend the first part of the season piecing together a pass rush, and that opens the door for rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton to get on the field fast.

With All-Pro Micah Parsons still working back from a torn ACL and off the PUP list, Green Bay’s defense is expected to spend what could be the first 4-to-6 weeks of the season looking for ways to create pressure and disrupt plays in the backfield.

That uncertainty is exactly where Dennis-Sutton comes in.

Pro Football Focus’ Bradley Locker listed Dennis-Sutton among the league’s players most likely to step in smoothly for an injured star, and his case starts with the profile Green Bay saw when it used a fourth-round pick on him. Locker wrote, “When the Packers picked Dennis-Sutton in the fourth round,” Locker writes for PFF.

“The team figured it had landed a high-upside depth piece during his rookie season. But with Micah Parsons expected to miss the first six weeks of 2026 while recovering from an ACL tear, Dennis-Sutton could be thrown into the spotlight sooner than projected.

“Dennis-Sutton was consistently excellent throughout a four-year stint at Penn State, earning at least a 75.0 PFF pass-rush grade every season while compiling 147 total pressures. He transferred that talent in his first taste of the preseason, collecting five pressures on 22 pass-rushing snaps against the Cardinals. Down Parsons in an edge defender room without many proven talents, Dennis-Sutton looms as an X-factor on a Packers defensive line facing initial questions.”

At minimum, Dennis-Sutton looks set to start the season as an important part of the rotation opposite Lukas Van Ness. And if he handles that role well, he could force his way into a bigger one once Parsons returns.

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