How the Green Bay Packers can mitigate Micah Parsons’ season-ending torn ACL

• Expect more blitzes from Jeff Hafley: The Packers had blitzed at one of the lowest rates in the league, relying on four-man rushes — but already turned up the heat as soon as Parsons exited.

• Get PFF+ for 30% off: Use promo code HOLIDAY30 to unlock the PFF Player Prop Tool, Premium Stats, fantasy dashboards, the PFF Mock Draft Simulator, industry-leading fantasy rankings and much more — everything you need to win your season.

Estimated Reading Time:6 minutes

On Sunday afternoon in Denver, much was going right for the first-place Packers. The team led the Broncos 23-14 into the third quarter, and Green Bay’s two-sided dominance was on display. Jordan Love and the Packers’ offense had generated eight explosive plays, while its defense had limited long possessions for Denver’s offense.

Then, a flip was switched — mostly after catastrophic injuries. The first was Christian Watson suffering a chest wound on an interception by Patrick Surtain II, but the second came with 55 seconds left in the third quarter.

While chasing Bo Nix to his left, edge defender Micah Parsons tweaked his knee in non-contact fashion and went down in a hurry. In one fell swoop, Green Bay’s entire season outlook was tarnished.

Unfortunately, Green Bay’s worst fears appear to have been realized. According to multiple reports, Parsons is believed to have suffered a torn ACL, sidelining him for the rest of both the regular season and playoffs — if not also the start of 2026.

Parsons had offered exactly what the Packers coveted after surrendering two first-round picks for the star in late August. Among qualified defensive players, his 93.0 overall PFF grade is third; his 93.1 PFF pass-rushing grade is second; his 80 total pressures are third; and his 22.9% pass-rush win rate is fourth. The ex-Cowboy was on pace to assemble likely the greatest defensive season by a Packer in the PFF Era.

The simple truth, as painful as it may be for Green Bay, is that there’s no way to completely replicate the type of production it received from Parsons. His ability to attract chips at one of the highest rates in the league freed opportunities for other defenders, and his deployment from unique alignments — such as being stacked over the nose tackle on third down — wreaked havoc.

At the same time, the Packers will have no choice but to move on. After all, they still sit at 9-4-1 and with a 91% chance to reach the playoffs, plus a 51% chance to claim the NFC North. Likewise, Green Bay’s 7% Super Bowl odds remain the sixth-highest.

The onus will fall mostly on fellow edge rushers Rashan Gary and Kingsley Enagbare, although neither has registered a PFF pass-rushing grade above 60.1 — nor a pass-rush win rate higher than 10.9%. Consequently, that means that defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley likely won’t be able to rely on a four-man rush with as much efficacy.

Indeed, when rushing four or fewer defensive linemen, the Packers rank third in PFF pass-rush grade and 10th in pressure rate. Moreover, Green Bay has utilized four or fewer pass-rushers on 440 plays, the seventh-most in football. Those numbers aren’t a coincidence with Parsons on the field, because he essentially acts as a force multiplier — with no need to add anyone to the mix.

In the wake of Parsons’ injury, though, Hafley will likely dial up more blitzes. Entering Week 15, the Packers had only blitzed on 21.4% of their total defensive snaps, which was the fourth-lowest mark for any unit. In Week 15 alone, that figure rose to a season-high 32.3% — perhaps not a shock after Parsons went down.

It also wouldn’t be surprising if Hafley implements even more stunts and/or simulated pressures to create disruption. Even after acquiring Parsons, the Packers have stunted at nearly the exact same rate in 2025 (19.7%) as they did last year (19.6%). Parsons particularly thrived on such looks, but the good news is that Gary is also effective on stunts with a 68.6 PFF pass-rush grade.

The other major silver lining for Green Bay is that its coverage unit remains one of the stingiest in football, ranking second among all teams. In particular, the Packers’ secondary places fourth in PFF coverage grade, surrendering the 10th-fewest first downs through the air. Hafley still has tremendous assets in Edgerrin Cooper (74.2 PFF coverage grade), Xavier McKinney (81.7 overall PFF grade) and Evan Williams (71.9 overall grade), although Green Bay’s corners have been vulnerable at times.

Parsons’ blazing pursuit speed and tenacity to fight through multiple blockers isn’t something that can magically reappear anytime soon, which puts a major dent in Green Bay’s pass rush — and Lombardi Trophy aspirations.

At the same time, even without the All-Pro, the Packers should still field a solid, well-coordinated defense with good coverage acumen. If Hafley gets creative with pressure packages, it could be enough for Green Bay to still make a deep playoff run on the heels of its explosive offense.