Micah Parsons Is Targeting a Nov. 25 Return for the Packers: What the Thanksgiving Eve Timeline Means
Micah Parsons has not played a football game since Dec. 14, 2025. Green Bay finally has a date in mind for that to change.
Ian Rapoport reported Saturday that the Packers and Parsons are targeting the Nov. 25 Thanksgiving Eve game against the Los Angeles Rams for his return. Parsons is set to practice next week, Rapoport reported, having hit all of his most recent rehab markers.
Read the back half of that report, though, because it is the part that matters. Practicing next week “does not mark the conclusion of his rehab.” It only continues the ramp-up.
The Timeline
Parsons tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee on a non-contact pass rush in Week 15 at Denver. He had a reconstruction and a full meniscus repair on Dec. 29. Green Bay then moved him from active/PUP to reserve/physically unable to perform when it cut to 53 players on Aug. 30, a designation that required him to miss at least the first four games of 2026.
He has missed all eight. By our count that is 11 regular-season games plus a wild-card loss at Chicago.
The reported ramp: individual drills the week of Nov. 2, team drills the week of Nov. 9 if nothing goes wrong, the Week 11 bye on Nov. 22, then a short week into Wednesday, Nov. 25 at SoFi Stadium. That game is the NFL’s first Thanksgiving Eve game, 8 p.m. ET on Netflix. Opening his 21-day practice window makes him eligible to be activated whenever the Packers want him.
Matt LaFleur Is Not Making the Call
“At the end of the day, that’s the medical [decision],” LaFleur said, before adding: “Yeah, I’m itching [for] it, though, for sure.”
Parsons said the careful part himself last month on his podcast. “If the Super Bowl was this week, I’m playing in the Super Bowl. But it’s just about me making sure I have all the small things fixed first.” He pointed out that an ACL recovery is not only about the ACL, describing the leg as a chain. “What’s the point of getting me back for four weeks and then next thing you know, my groin’s bothering me.”
That is a 27-year-old edge rusher with $188 million on the line talking himself out of a hurry, and he is right to.
Green Bay Does Not Need Him the Way It Did in September
Here is the twist. After Parsons went down, the Packers fell from fifth to 26th in yards per play allowed. Across a six-game losing streak spanning the two seasons they produced seven total sacks, with the second-worst sack rate in the league.
That defense no longer exists. Under first-year coordinator Jonathan Gannon, Green Bay leads the NFL with 22 sacks through eight games, including six against Carolina in Week 8. Since Week 4 the Packers rank third in yards per play allowed and lead the league with 13 forced turnovers, and they have held five straight opponents to 20 points or fewer.
Green Bay is 5-3 and, by winning percentage, last in the NFC North behind Minnesota at 6-0, Chicago at 5-2 and Detroit at 4-2. It is the strongest last-place team in football.
Parsons was a first-team All-Pro in 2025 with 12.5 sacks, 41 tackles and 27 quarterback hits in 14 games, his third first-team selection in five seasons. The Packers sent Dallas defensive lineman Kenny Clark and first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 for him in August 2025, then signed him to a four-year, $188 million deal with $136 million guaranteed, per NFL Network.
They did not pay that to watch a pass rush pile up 22 sacks without him. They paid it for January. Nov. 25 is a target, not a promise, and Green Bay is in the unusual position of being able to wait.
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.
