Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons is believed to have torn his left ACL against the Denver Broncos Sunday.
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Micah Parsons — the most dynamic pass rusher in Green Bay since Reggie White — made everyone on the Packers’ defense better.
His dominance was one reason Green Bay defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has emerged as a head coaching candidate this offseason.
Now, it appears as if Green Bay won’t have Parsons the rest of the season.
Parsons is believed to have torn the ACL in his left knee during the Packers’ 34-26 loss to the Denver Broncos Sunday.
Pro Football Talk was first to report the news.
“It doesn’t look good,” Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur said after the game. “I’ll leave it at that.”
Green Bay defensive end Rashan Gary paused for several seconds before talking about losing Parsons.
“Hurt to see. Will be missed on this defense,” Gary said. “All I know is – that gives us more guys up front more opportunities when they come to rush to cause havoc. With his absence, we gotta step up front.
“I told him to keep his head up and we’re going to finish strong for him. That’s what I told him. I’m going to keep in contact with him throughout what he’s doing. That was my first message to him. It hurt. It hurt.”
Parsons suffered the non-contact injury late in the third quarter while chasing Denver quarterback Bo Nix.
Parsons went to the ground and clutched his left knee. Parsons walked to the locker room with the help of a trainer, and it appears his year is over.
Parsons is arguably the Packers’ most dynamic defensive player since the Hall of Famer White, who spent the 1993-’98 seasons in Green Bay. White posted 66.5 of his 198 career sacks during his time with the Packers.
Parsons, acquired from Dallas in a blockbuster trade on Aug. 28, had 12.5 sacks through Green Bay’s first 13 games. That made him the first player in NFL history to record at least a 12 sacks in each of his first five NFL seasons.
Parsons entered Sunday’s game with an NFL-leading 60 pressures, which was 10 more than any player in football. According to ESPN, that was also the most pressures by a player through 13 games since 2018.
If Parsons is indeed out for the remainder of the season, Green Bay will have to generate a pass rush with defensive ends Rashan Gary — who doesn’t have a sack since Week 8 — Kingsley Enagbare (2.0 sacks) and Lukas Van Ness (1.5 sacks).
“Yeah, it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be tough,” LaFleur said. “But, you know … it’s not going to be one individual that can do that. I think it’s the collective, it’s everybody playing at the to the best of their ability.
“They’re going to have to feed off one another and rally around each other, and it’s going to be opportunities for other guys to get in there, and they’re going to have to be impactful.”