Packers got what they paid for in Micah Parsons' dominant first season

When the Green Bay Packers gave up two first-round picks and Kenny Clark to trade for All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons, before handing him a record-setting contract, there was little doubt he would be worth the hefty price.

In the 14 games Green Bay got out of Parsons before his season-ending injury, he was certainly worth everything they gave up getting him.

Using PFF's numbers, which count half sacks as full ones, Parsons had 14 sacks, a mark he has hit in every one of his seasons to date. His percentile ranks at the EDGE position are as impressive as you might expect in the pass rush department.

Parsons was as advertised in his first year with Green Bay, arguably only bettered by Myles Garrett league wide. For as good as he was in Dallas, Parsons actually improved as a pass rusher in terms of his percentile rankings in 2025.

The most notable upticks were when facing true pass sets, as he went from ranking 43rd among 119 eligible edge rushers in QB hurries per snap in 2024, up to fourth out of 124 qualifiers in 2025. Parsons also improved from 51st in QB hits against true pass sets to 15th.

He was the closer for a Packers defense which did not generate anywhere near as many turnovers compared to the year prior, and often needed a big play to end their opponent’s final drive.

Unsurprisingly, Green Bay’s defense was never the same after a knee injury in Week 15 knocked him out for the year. It is hard to imagine the Packers surrendering leads as they did to the Broncos and twice to the Bears if Parsons had been on the field.

Much was made of his run defense at the time of the trade, with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones driving the narrative that Parsons was something of a liability in that regard, and one of the reasons Dallas felt comfortable moving on.

While the idea that Parsons is a poor run defender was very much overblown, he did have arguably one of his worst statistical seasons against the run for the Packers in 2025, despite his PFF run defense grade of 69.3 marking his best campaign since 2022.

It was his least active year as a tackler, as he made only 19 solo tackles. His tackle tally has dropped with each year he has been in the league, although a big part of that is due to him entering the NFL as an off-ball linebacker before eventually transitioning to the edge full time.

Parsons had the same number of run stops in 2025 as in 2024 on 21 additional run defense snaps. One area he has continued to clean up is missed tackles, as Parsons missed only 6.1% of tackle attempts in 2025, easily his career best mark and down from a bloated 16.2% in 2024.

He is more in the ‘passable’ category as a run defender, making him good enough to keep on the field regardless of the situation.

Penalties have been a bit of an issue for Parsons throughout his career, and that continued to be the case in 2025, as he was flagged six times, albeit that represented progress, down from eight the year before.

He is always trying to gain an edge and use his getoff to his advantage, and penalties come with the territory at times. The Packers are surely happy with the tradeoff.

The pertinent question with Parsons entering 2026 is how quickly he can get back on the field. It seems certain he will miss at least the first four games.

If he misses any more time than that, he will of course be a big miss for the Packers in some potentially crucial and challenging games versus the Bears and Cowboys. Making sure Parsons is fully ready when he does return, and is in top form for the playoffs, is the most important thing though.

After making such a large investment in Parsons, the Packers will surely do everything they can to ensure whenever he does return, he is the same player from before the injury and has the same type of impact from his debut campaign in Green Bay.

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers got what they paid for in Micah Parsons' dominant first season