GREEN BAY — Brian Gutekunst was polite about his answer, but he was also very clear.
The Green Bay Packers general manager had been asked during the annual NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis if he had any regrets over his decision to acquire star edge rusher Micah Parsons, whose first-team All-Pro season ended on Dec. 14 because of the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
“No. Zero. None,” Gutekunst replied. “He impacted our football team, not only on the field, but in our locker room in such a positive way. We’re really excited for years to come.”
Parsons was unquestionably a field-tilter after the Aug. 28 trade that brought him to Titletown in exchange for the Packers 2026 and 2027 first-round draft picks and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark. He had 12.5 sacks at the time of his injury in Denver.
But it sure would be nice to have that first-round pick right now, with the 2026 NFL Draft set to kick off on Thursday night without the Packers, who haven’t entered a draft without a first-round pick in their possession since 1986, right?
Of course, it would be. But Gutekunst — understandably — has no regrets.
“No different than when we talked back when we acquired him, players like Micah very rarely become available,” said Gutekunst, whose team was 9-3-1 at the time of Parsons’ injury — and never won another game last season.
“The way he impacted our football team, you guys saw it. He’s a rare player that can do what he can do when he’s on the field and the way he affects the game — and the way he affects winning. So no regrets there. And we certainly expect him back better than ever once he gets rolling.”
Even though the Packers didn’t get a full season out of him?
“That’s the risk in the National Football League,” Gutekunst replied. “He didn’t have a long injury history, it wasn’t like we took that kind of risk. We could draft a guy in the first round with the picks we gave up, and they could get hurt this year as well. That’s life in the National Football League.”
Speaking at locker clean-out following the team’s season-ending NFC first-round playoff loss to the rival Chicago Bears, Parsons admitted that he didn’t think it was realistic for him to be fully cleared in time for the regular-season opener, which figures to be Sept. 13 or 14.
“For most of my life, I’ve felt invincible — never really sustaining a major injury before,” Parsons said at the time. “I kind of live my life like that, and I’ve played like that — until I wasn’t invincible anymore.
“I just want to be at a really good spot. So far, they say I’m ‘flying,’ so whatever that means. There’s a timing standpoint they want, but I don’t think I’ll be on IR — I would say that — to start the season. I think lofty, [so] I’d be saying Week 1, but realistically, probably like Week 3, Week 4, just to make sure and just getting back into [real] football, just practicing hard and getting ready to sustain, taking my body through what I go through.”
With Parsons unlikely to be ready for Week 1, the Packers are even thinner on the edge — with new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon set to shift the defense from a 4-3 base to a 3-4 — than they would be with their superstar fully healthy after trading 2019 first-round pick Rashan Gary to the Cowboys and watching Kingsley Enagbare leave as a free agent.
Lukas Van Ness, the team’s 2023 first-round pick who appears unlikely to receive the fifth-year option on his rookie contract from the Packers by the NFL’s May 1 deadline, would start on one side, while the next men up would be Brenton Cox, Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver — all of whom look up to Parsons.
Now they need to play up to the standard he sets.
“When you acquire a player, you never really 100% know when they enter your environment how that’s going to be,” Gutekunst said. “I couldn’t be happier with how he’s embraced Green Bay, embraced his teammates, the leadership he’s shown. He’s all-football. I think that’s the thing for me that’s been exciting to see where he’s going to go as a Green Bay Packer.”
Packers depth chart
1 Micah Parsons 6-3 250 26 6 Penn State
90 Lukas Van Ness 6-5 272 24 4 Iowa
57 Brenton Cox Jr. 6-4 250 26 4 Florida
99 Barryn Sorrell 6-3 256 23 2 Texas
53 Arron Mosby 6-3 250 27 4 Fresno State
45 Collin Oliver 6-2 240 23 2 Oklahoma State
Best in class | David Bailey, Texas Tech.
The 6-foot-4, 251-pound Bailey spent his first three college seasons at Stanford — and earned his degree in science, technology and society in those three years — before transferring to Texas Tech and having a breakout season in 2025 with an FBS-leading 14.5 sacks.
Bailey, though, might also lead college football in self-awareness, given the way he views his game as the draft approaches — knowing he has much to learn and much to improve upon.
“I’m known as a pass rusher,” Bailey said. “I definitely do need improve on the run game, also just becoming a student of the game, expanding my knowledge of football in general.
“I think I can do that. I was doing that at Stanford for about two years. So I’m comfortable in that position. I feel confident my ability. I’m just wanting to do anything. I mean, I feel like I’ll be able to adapt.”
Next men up | Arvell Reese, Ohio State; Rueben Bain Jr., Miami (Fla.); Keldric Faulk, Auburn; Akheem Mesidor, Miami (Fla).; T.J. Parker, Clemson; Malachi Lawrence, Central Florida.
Pick to click | Romello Height, Texas Tech.
Bailey’s runningmate in Lubbock was Height, who came to Green Bay on one of the Packers’ 30 allotted in-person pre-draft visits. The 6-foot-3, 239-pound Height turned 25 earlier this week, after a circuitous college route to the NFL.
Height played six seasons at four different schools — starting out at Auburn, transferring to USC for two years, spending 2024 at Georgia Tech and, finally, landing at Texas Tech after the Raiders’ NIL-fueled defensive overhaul.
He recorded 9.5 sacks playing alongside Bailey and is a likely third-round pick.
“Just continuing to stack days, trying to perfect my craft,” Height said at his on-campus pro day when asked what he must do to succeed in the NFL. “Going out, doing film work, living in the training room, staying on top of my body. It’s just the little things to be able to go out and execute at a high level.”
History lesson | In their combined 21 drafts in charge, Ted Thompson (2005-’17) and Gutekunst (2018-present) have have invested five first-round picks on defensive ends/outside linebackers: USC’s Clay Matthews in 2009 (No. 26 overall); USC’s Nick Perry in 2012 (No. 28 overall); UCLA’s Datone Jones in 2013 (No. 26 overall); Michigan’s Gary in 2019 (No. 12 overall); and Iowa’s Van Ness in 2023 (No. 13 overall).
Matthews is a Packers Hall of Famer and the franchise’s all-time sack leader; Perry was an up-and-down player during his seven seasons in Green Bay; Jones was a disappointment with only nine sacks in 59 games across four seasons with the Packers; Gary never had a double-digit sack total in his career and didn’t have a sack over the final 10 games of the season; and Van Ness is heading into a make-or-break Year 4 in the league.
With no first-round pick to pair with Parsons in 2026, the Packers will have to find an impact edge player later on in the draft after moving on from Gary and managing to extract a fourth-round 2027 pick for Gary from the Cowboys.
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