GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur this week hinted that Micah Parsons would be back on the practice field following this weekend’s mini-bye.

Indeed, according to multiple national reports, Parsons will make his long-awaited return to the practice field next week with the hope of him making his season debut during the Thanksgiving Eve game at the Los Angeles Rams.

Because the Packers played on Thursday and will get the weekend off, there will be a bonus day on Monday. That’s Nov. 2, though the team probably will hold only a walk-through practice. That would make Wednesday, Nov. 4 – the start of the traditional practice week – the big day.

The Packers will play the Rams on Wednesday, Nov. 25. That means he will get a three-week ramp-up.

As NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said, the focus for this coming week leading into the New England game will be individual drills, which will help Parsons knock off some rust and gain additional comfort and confidence in the knee. The following week, when the Packers will host the Vikings, Parsons will be incorporated into team drills.

Then comes the Packers’ pseudo-bye week, meaning a few rest days before rolling into Rams Week with practices on that Saturday, Sunday and Monday before flying to Los Angeles on Tuesday to play on Wednesday.

Packers Can Take Next Step

The Packers have persevered without Parsons. They are 5-3, due in large part to a defense that has defied expectations.

The Packers are 11th in points allowed, skewed by an offensive implosion that gift-wrapped the Vikings a bunch of points in Week 1 and one terrible performance against Atlanta in Week 3. The past five games, they have not allowed more than 20 points.

The Packers rank ninth in yards allowed per game and third in yards allowed per play. They have allowed 303 or fewer yards in six of eight games. Rather incredibly, they are a solid 11th in sack percentage without anyone on the roster picking up the slack. Lukas Van Ness has a team-high 4.5 sacks, including one of the team’s six against Carolina.

The team’s four edge players each had a sack against the Panthers but have only a combined total of 9.5 for the season.

That will make Parsons a seismic addition – assuming he returns at anything close to peak form.

While the Seahawks acquired All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson and the Bears landed All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, perhaps no move made before the Nov. 10 trade deadline will be more consequential than Parsons’ return.

The Packers were 9-3-1 when Parsons was injured at Denver last season, but they lost their final five games. Despite a myriad of problems this season, they are 5-3 and right in the thick of the playoff chase following the victory over Carolina.

Micah Parsons’ Big-Picture Perspective

Parsons tore the ACL and suffered meniscus damage against the Broncos, making it a more significant injury than the ACL tears sustained by teammate Tucker Kraft and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

He had surgery on Dec. 29, meaning his first practice will be a little more than 10 months later and his potential season debut will be a little less than 11 months later.

When Parsons spoke to reporters during training camp, he had this revealing comment. Yes, Parsons has to get the knee back to full strength following the ACL injury. But he also has to get everything back to full strength so one problem doesn’t create another problem.

He believes assorted issues after not practicing for the Cowboys in training camp before last year’s trade might have led to the injury.

“I just think it was just accumulative things within my body – pushing through the no camp, the dealing with injuries throughout the season, and I just think my body just was overloaded, which caused my knee to give out,” he said. “But I don’t really think [about] why the situation happened. I think based off of how I feel at this point, I feel like a much better player in the sense of how I feel.

“I feel more stable. I feel stronger. I probably was blind to a lot of things that I probably should have been working on that I got a chance to correct and get stronger during this process.”

So, Parsons saw the potential upside of how the injury could impact the “longevity” of the 27-year-old’s career.

“I talked to a baseball guy,” Parsons continued. “He’s like, ‘We want a pitcher that kind of go through the Tommy John [surgery] because it’s like he got it out the way,’ you know? So, hopefully, I got my injury out of the way, and I can, based off what others try to say, give me another six to 10 years. So, I’m really excited about that.”

From the team perspective, the Packers don’t want to do anything to jeopardize their enormous investment following a trade that cost them two first-round picks, Kenny Clark and $188 million.

Parsons shares a similar train of thought. In a story this week by ESPN.com Packers beat writer Rob Demovsky, a source pointed to the rise and fall of Parsons’ close friend and former Cowboys teammate Trevon Diggs. He was one of the best cornerbacks in the league in 2021 and 2022 – he led the NFL with 11 interceptions in 2021 – but suffered a torn ACL early in the 2023 season, which ruined his career.

“I think watching one of his best friends go through what he went through, coming back early twice and where his career headed afterward, he already had in his head how to approach this situation,” the source said.

If the target game of the Rams becomes reality, Parsons will have missed the first 10 games of the season. But he’ll be back for the most important games, including a potential playoff run.

“It’s about knowing when to go and it's all about feeling great,” he said during training camp. “Like I don't think Gutey (Brian Gutekunst) or Nate (Weir) or Matt (LaFleur) wants me to go out there if I'm not at 100 percent and risk re-injury and lose me for the year and it's just a waste of a year.

“Everything is about playoffs and winning football games deep in [the season]. Yeah, those games are important, but maybe we don't see Dallas twice, but we see Chicago twice and the games that we have in December or even more playoff games and not to even just look that far ahead, but we got a tough schedule this year and I think for the betterment of everyone, everyone wants me at 100 and wants me in those games so we can make this championship run.”

Matt LaFleur had the perfect six-letter word for his defensive coordinator, Jonathan Gannon, following the Packers' win over Carolina. ⬇️https://t.co/aCM9sVLN52

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 30, 2026