Micah Parsons thought he had it all figured out. He was the best pass rusher in all of football, not named Myles Garrett. The Dallas Cowboys had helped turn him into a superstar. However, they weren’t ready to pony up the maximum amount of money he wanted—no big deal. Just trade him to another team. He’d get his bag and continue competing for championships. That is certainly how he probably felt when the Green Bay Packers traded for him last year. This was a landmark organization, having enjoyed over 30 years of sustained success. His arrival would portend another golden age.
It’s amazing how quickly plans derail. Parsons tore his ACL in December of last season. Since his exit, the Packers have lost six of their last seven games. If the playoff collapse against the Chicago Bears was the biggest gutpunch, rock bottom arrived on Thursday Night Football. It was the home opener at Lambeau Field against a winless Atlanta Falcons team. Everyone predicted a Packers romp.
They were half right. Atlanta came out firing, riding over 200 rushing yards from Bijan Robinson to a decisive 35-14 victory. By the end, Packer fans were showering the team with boos. Parsons wasn’t enjoying it either, as cameras found him screaming at teammates on the sideline, trying to wake them up.
Micah Parsons might realize the grass isn’t always greener.
His memory was likely still fresh of Green Bay crushing Dallas in the 2023 playoffs. From his perspective, he probably thought he was going to an organization that was just better equipped to win when it mattered. Maybe if he had stopped to really think about it, he might have recognized that things weren’t as perfect in Cheesetown as they seemed. Even with his addition, their defense didn’t come across as elite. Really good, sure. Not top-tier. Couple that with a solid-not-great quarterback in Jordan Love, and it didn’t actually feel like Micha Parsons upgraded.
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Dak Prescott, for all of the hate he gets, is a better quarterback than Love. If you look back over the past 5 years, the Cowboys have been consistently better at drafting than Green Bay. Was a few extra million dollars per year really worth it? This is what must be going through his head right now. The Packers are trending in the wrong direction. Josh Jacobs is unlikely to return anytime soon. Jayden Reed might be done for the season with a neck injury. The offensive line is a mess, as is much of the secondary. As good as Parsons is, he can’t fix everything.
Is this another Kevin Carter situation?
Two decades ago, Carter was one of the elite pass rushers in the NFL. He’d helped the St. Louis Rams win a Super Bowl and had 27.5 sacks in his final two seasons with them. However, a contract squabble led them to trade him to the Tennessee Titans. It probably felt like a massive win from his perspective. Not only did Carter get his payday, but he also joined the team that St. Louis barely beat in the Super Bowl. It’d be fine. Unfortunately, his production regressed from there, and the Titans eventually regressed as well, never making it back to the big game.
Micah Parsons is a phenomenal talent. The problem is that great pass rushers changing teams rarely affects fortunes as much as they’d like to believe. Of the five players who went for a 1st round pick or more before him in the Super Bowl era, only one managed to win a championship with his new team. That was Frank Clark, and it’s safe to say they won their titles more because of Patrick Mahomes than anything else. Green Bay doesn’t have Mahomes.
