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In what is more a formality than anything else, the extent of Micah Parsons’ knee injury has now been confirmed. He did indeed suffer a torn ACL in his left knee on Sunday in Denver, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
The injury took place during the third quarter, with Parsons applying pressure to Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix. Parsons, who was not engaged with another player, tried to change direction while stepping to his left and he immediately came up hobbling, eventually falling to the ground in pain. The circumstances of the injury led to immediate speculation about ligament damage, which is now confirmed on an MRI.
Parsons took to Twitter a few moments after the news was broken, publishing a motivational post that states, in part, “I may be sidelined, but I am not defeated. This injury is my greatest test.”
The exact severity of the knee injury remains to be seen, however. Packers fans should hope that it is a clean tear of the ACL with no other damage to other surrounding ligaments or cartilage. Christian Watson suffered a clean tear in last year’s season finale and returned in week 8 this season, slightly less than 10 months later. If he can achieve a similar recovery time frame, Parsons could be back on the field around week 4 or 5 of the 2026 season.
The Packers have been bringing a pair of injured players back at practice in recent weeks, with Brenton Cox, Jr. and Collin Olliver designated to return from injured reserve and the PUP list, respectively. The team will presumably place Parsons on injured reserve this week and could activate one of those two players to the 53-man roster as a corresponding move.
Additionally, with the return of Lukas Van Ness to the lineup on Sunday, the Packers made rookie Barryn Sorrell a healthy scratch for the game, so there are still bodies at the defensive end position. However, Parsons has been essential to the Packers’ pass rush all season long. He leads the team with 12.5 sacks, which accounts for more than one-third of the team’s 33 sacks.
This is the second torn ACL to befall a critical Green Bay Packers player this season, following tight end Tucker Kraft’s injury in early November. Kraft may be a candidate to return near the beginning of next year’s regular season.
