GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — In the year since the Green Bay Packers acquired Micah Parsons, they’ve lost each of the four games the All-Pro edge rusher has missed.
Parsons will miss at least the first four games of this season while recovering from the torn left anterior cruciate ligament that ended his 2025 season early. New defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon's biggest challenge is trying to assemble a solid pass rush without Parsons available.
The first test comes Sunday when the Packers visit the Minnesota Vikings.
“I feel really good about us being able to affect the passer right now, from what they’ve done in training camp, what they’ve done in some preseason games,” Gannon said.
The Packers’ results last season suggest that could be a tough task.
Green Bay owned a 9-3-1 record and was leading the Denver Broncos on the road when Parsons went down. The Packers ended up losing 34-26 at Denver wouldn’t win another game the rest of the season.
Their five-game skid to end the season included two losses to the rival Chicago Bears. Green Bay failed to sack Caleb Williams at all in a 22-16 overtime defeat at Chicago in December and got him just once when they fell to the Bears again 31-27 in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
Parsons had 12 1/2 sacks last season. The Packers don’t have anyone else who recorded more than Devonte Wyatt’s four sacks for them a year ago.
They have a different group of edge rushers now as they wait for Parsons’ return.
Rashan Gary was traded to the Dallas Cowboys after a 2025 season in which he had 7 1/2 sacks, but none in Green Bay’s last 10 games. Kingsley Enagbare signed with the New York Jets in free agency.
Green Bay would get a major lift if 2023 first-round pick Lukas Van Ness takes the next step after totaling 8 1/2 sacks over his first three seasons. Van Ness has spoken in the preseason about wanting to play more freely now that he’s healthy again after a foot injury limited him to nine games last season.
“I think that’s a lot of how we see Micah play, too,” Van Ness said. “You’re out there dictating the game versus allowing the offense to dictate you. I think that’s been beneficial for me, when I can get on a guy’s toes and use my capabilities and my strength and my speed, I think it can be pretty dangerous.”
The only other edge rushers on Green Bay’s 53-man roster to open the season are Brenton Cox Jr., 2025 fourth-round pick Barryn Sorrell and rookie fourth-round selection Dani Dennis-Sutton. Collin Oliver, a 2025 fifth-round pick, is opening the season on injured reserve.
Green Bay does have seven interior defensive linemen. That group includes Wyatt and Javon Hargrave, who has 49 sacks in his 10-year career. Hargrave had 11 sacks for Philadelphia in 2022 when Gannon was the Eagles’ defensive coordinator.
“It’s always a collective effort,” Gannon said. “I think people just concentrate on the rush. Rush and coverage go together, so it’s not just the guys that are rushing the passer. It’s the back end, how that’s coordinated with the rush.
“I feel really good about our edge guys. I feel really good about us being able to generate inside, the guys we have inside, and hopefully we’ll put a couple cool things on tape that make it hard on them.”
