Acme Packing Company
While Green Bay Packers fans are riding sky high following the trade for defensive end Micah Parsons, there are still 31 other teams in the league fighting for the Lombardi Trophy this year. Let’s take a look at some league-wide power rankings, so we can see how analysts stack the Packers among their competition for the upcoming season.
Green Bay was fourth in defensive expected points added (7.1 per 100 snaps) a year ago despite not having a player in the top 35 in sacks. Now, Matt LaFleur and company have Micah Parsons, who’s had at least 12 sacks every year he’s been in the league. Parsons and Rashan Gary give Green Bay one of the league’s scariest pass rushes and one of the league’s most complete teams. The Packers have officially joined the top tier of contenders.
They have a ton of young talent ready to take the next step. The Micah Parsons trade gives them the sack-game-over defender they lacked.
Yes, they had to give up defensive tackle Kenny Clark in their big trade, and if you believe Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, that’s a really big deal. Regardless, going out and getting a player like Micah Parsons on the eve of the NFL season is the kind of thing a serious contender does. It’s not just that Parsons had 52.5 sacks over his first four NFL seasons, it’s that he’s the kind of player that offensive coordinators have nightmares about. He makes them change their game plans. He’s a disruptive force. Who wouldn’t want a player like that? (Well, yes, Jerry Jones). The Packers’ run defense will be fine without Clark. And Parsons might just be enough to put them over the top considering how close they were in games against the Eagles, Lions and Vikings last year.
Some of the sager members of the NFL media corps had already picked them as the NFC’s Super Bowl 60 entry … not that anyone, cough, is looking for credit. But with Parsons now coming aboard in the kind of deal Pack fans rarely enjoy? Better buy another bandwagon. Or two.
I’m drinking all the green and yellow Kool-Aid this year. Green Bay got through 2024 with a quarterback who never seemed truly healthy and a defense that often performed like a contender despite lacking any true difference makers. Now that edge rusher Micah Parsons is in the fold, this team is in line to take a major leap this year.
Their schedule will be a beast this year, with nine games against teams favored to make the playoffs, so it’s still possible that their regular-season record won’t reflect the team’s actual quality. Head coach Matt LaFleur has earned my trust, though, and I expect the Packers to have a huge influence on how the NFC shakes out.
I was on Wisconsin radio this summer,...
