Micah Parsons Is Targeting a Mid-October Return. The Cowboys Reunion Game Is Right There
Micah Parsons is officially targeting a mid-October return from the torn ACL he suffered in Week 15 last season. The Packers pass rusher confirmed Wednesday that he is five months into a nine-month recovery and on track to be back in the lineup somewhere between Week 5 and Week 6.
Week 6, just so we are all on the same page, is the Packers at the Dallas Cowboys.
This is the storyline that writes itself. Parsons was traded from the Cowboys to the Packers in August 2025. He has not played his former team since. The reunion was supposed to happen Week 1 last year, but the Cowboys and Packers did not actually meet on the schedule. The schedule maker fixed that this year and put the game in Week 6, on October 18 in Dallas.
Parsons is going to be ready for that game. The mid-October target was likely picked by his medical team, and his medical team was likely picked by Parsons, and Parsons is the kind of competitor who would absolutely build his recovery timeline around a date on the schedule. The Cowboys-Packers reunion is the date.
The Packers are going to start the season with Parsons on the physically unable to perform list. That keeps him out of at least the first four games. The Bears game in Week 5 is a possibility. The Cowboys game in Week 6 is the more likely target. Anything later than that risks him missing the most important game on his personal schedule.
Parsons also revealed he had a meniscus procedure on top of his ACL surgery. That is a more complicated recovery than just an ACL alone, and it is partly why the timeline has stretched to nine months instead of the more typical seven. He is being smart. He is following the medical team’s recommendation. He is not coming back at 80%.
The bigger question is what version of Parsons the Packers get back. He was the best edge rusher in the NFC before the injury. He had 14 sacks in 14 games last season. The Packers traded a haul to Dallas to get him, and they were rewarded with the most dominant pass rush in the conference until he went down in December.
Returning at full strength from an ACL takes about a year. Returning to peak production takes longer. The first season back is usually the worst, and most defensive players say it takes 12-15 months to truly feel like themselves again. Parsons is talking like a guy who plans to skip that learning curve.
The Cowboys are not the same team Parsons left. Mike McCarthy is now in Pittsburgh. Mike Tomlin is gone. Brian Schottenheimer is the head coach. The defense is led by Matt Eberflus. The offense has been overhauled. The Cowboys are still a playoff contender, but the team Parsons left is mostly unrecognizable.
What this means for the Packers is they are going to start the year without their best defensive player for at least a month, which is going to test their depth. The defense needs to hold up. Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, and the rest of the edge group are going to have to keep the team afloat until Parsons gets back.
If everything breaks right, the Packers get Parsons back for the second half of the season, build momentum heading into the playoffs, and have the best pass rusher in the NFC for a deep run. The Week 6 game in Dallas just happens to be the spot where the comeback tour officially starts.
That game cannot get here fast enough. Parsons is going to make sure of it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
