{"id":329586,"date":"2025-08-30T20:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T20:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/329586\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T20:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T20:05:10","slug":"five-reasons-the-packers-micah-parsons-trade-isnt-as-good-as-it-looks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/329586\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Reasons the Packers\u2019 Micah Parsons Trade isn\u2019t as Good as it Looks"},"content":{"rendered":"

I feel ya, Chicago Bears<\/a> fans.\u00a0 The Green Bay Packers have pulled their own Khalil Mack trade and acquired Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys for Kenny Clark and two first-round picks.\u00a0 Cue the dirge.\u00a0 RIP Braxton Jones.<\/p>\n

But before we pack up and go home and crown the Green Bay Packers, rather than actually play the 2025 NFL Season, here are a few notes of caution before the Cheeseheads uncork the champagne:<\/p>\n

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#1 The Packers are Staring at Cap Hell<\/p>\n

Trading for Micah Parsons and paying him in excess of $45 million places serious strain on the Packers\u2019 cap situation, especially given they are already paying Jordan Love a ton of money to be their #1 QB.\u00a0 Furthermore, the Packers will eat $35 million in dead cap by trading Kenny Clark to the Dallas Cowboys, given he had already signed a $64 million contract extension with the Packers in 2024.<\/p>\n

And it gets worse when we cast our eyes at the Green Bay free agents in 2026 and 2027.<\/p>\n

Those are a number of good-to-very-good players that the Packers will find it difficult to pay after 2025.\u00a0 For example, their Pro Bowl-level guard, Elgton Jenkins, is a serious candidate to be a cap casualty as early as 2026. \u00a0And now they will be missing, just as the Chicago Bears did after the Mack trade, their cost-controlled first-round picks for the next two seasons.<\/p>\n

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#2 Kenny Clark was a Key Cog in the Packers\u2019 Run Defense<\/p>\n

The Green Bay Packers were fifth in the NFL in rushing yards per game in 2024<\/a>, allowing only 146.8 yards per game on the ground.\u00a0 A big part of that run defense was Kenny Clark eating double-teams in the middle of that Packers defense.\u00a0 While the Packers\u2019 edge rush is going to be something to behold, with Rashan Gary and Micah Parsons crashing the edges, the Packers\u2019 interior defense has taken a serious blow with Kenny Clark headed to Dallas.\u00a0 And outside of going out and trying to sign Christian Wilkins, there are no obvious solutions for GB to fill the hole Clark leaves in their interior defense.<\/p>\n

#3 The Packers Remain an Incomplete Team<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just their interior rush defense that the Green Bay Packers have to worry about in 2025.\u00a0 The Green Bay secondary, outside of Xavier McKinney, is the Achilles heel of this defense, a secondary that saw Jaire Alexander hop ship for the Baltimore Ravens.\u00a0 Keisean Nixon, Carrington Vaentine, and Nate Hobbs aren\u2019t striking fear in the hearts of any of the offensive coordinators in the NFC North.\u00a0 So Green Bay\u2019s pressure better get home, or they are likely to be gashed in the passing game, particularly in the deep third.<\/p>\n

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On offense, the Packers should still feature a solid rushing attack with Josh Jacobs and Matt LeFleur, and they added a first-round receiver for the first time in decades with Matthew Golden.\u00a0 But I for one was underwhelmed with their offseason acquisitions.\u00a0 They paid a bunch of money to Aaron Banks, who had trouble staying healthy for the San Francisco Forty-Niners, and was fairly middling when he was healthy.\u00a0 Jenkins is starting to get long in the tooth.\u00a0 It has always seemed like the Packers are able to field a top third offensive line no matter who they plug into their starting five, but color me skeptical that this offensive line will be as dominant as past Packers teams.\u00a0 Oh, and speaking of Jacobs \u2013 he will be 28 years old next season, an age where running backs tend to fall off the cliff.<\/p>\n

#4 None of this Works if Jordan Love Isn\u2019t Him<\/p>\n

As Chicago Bears fans can tell Green Bay Packers fans, trading for a generational defensive talent doesn\u2019t guarantee you get to host the Lombardi trophy at the end of the season.\u00a0 Indeed, despite the dominance of Khalil Mack as a Chicago Bear, the Bears never won a single playoff game with Mack.\u00a0 The most significant factor in that result was not Mack failing to live up to the hype \u2013 he did.\u00a0 No, it was Mitch Trubisky busting out as a starting NFL quarterback.\u00a0 The Green Bay Packers can take solace in the fact that Jordan Love doesn\u2019t appear to be as bad as Trubisky was, but he hasn\u2019t exactly set the league on fire either.\u00a0 In 2024, he threw for 25 touchdowns but 11 interceptions in only 15 games played.\u00a0 His yards per game ranking was 18th overall<\/a>, below the man he displaced, Aaron Rodgers, and in the company of players like Kyler Murray and Bo Nix.\u00a0 Unfortunately for the Packers, Love does not add a rushing component to his game like Murray and Nix do.\u00a0 The good news is Love, combined with LaFleur\u2019s offensive approach and a great offensive line, was elite at avoiding sacks \u2013 only being sacked 14 times in 2024.\u00a0 Is that enough?\u00a0 Perhaps.\u00a0 The Eagles won the Super Bowl with Hurts \u2013 but Hurts, again, is a dual threat.\u00a0 Love is a traditional pocket passer.\u00a0 If we look at the top teams in the NFL, there are few pocket passers featured on teams like the Bills, the Ravens, and the Eagles.\u00a0 And Jordan Love is no Patrick Mahomes.\u00a0 If Love can\u2019t move into the top 10 of NFL quarterbacks, it is likely the Packers will squander the Parsons window \u2013 just like the Bears squandered the Mack window.<\/p>\n

#5\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The Packers Were Not One Player Away in 2024<\/p>\n

Speaking of the Packers in 2024 \u2013 lost in the fact that they won eleven games and went to the playoffs \u2014 is they were just a blocked field goal away from going 0-6 in their division.\u00a0 The Packers failed to win a playoff game, getting trounced by the Eagles, and only scoring 10 points in a game that saw four Green Bay turnovers, including three interceptions by Jordan \u00a0Love.\u00a0 Much has been said about the Bears not being a player away, and why they shouldn\u2019t be looking to make a Mack-like splash in the 2025 season.\u00a0 But are the Packers really just a player away from competing for the NFC championship \u2013 let alone the Super Bowl?\u00a0 While the Packers\u2019 Vegas odds of winning the Super Bowl doubled overnight, I\u2019m not sure we should put our money on the Packers\u2019 Super Bowl run in 2025.\u00a0 They are still in one of the toughest, if not the toughest, divisions in the NFL \u2013 meaning that even if they win the North, they may find it difficult to win enough games to earn the bye.\u00a0 Have they done enough to overcome the Washington Commanders, let alone the Eagles?\u00a0 I guess we will see.\u00a0 I for one am going to save my money on that particular bet.<\/p>\n

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But what do you think?\u00a0 Are the Packers destined for the Super Bowl, now that Micha Parsons is a Cheesehead?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I feel ya, Chicago Bears fans.\u00a0 The Green Bay Packers have pulled their own Khalil Mack trade and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[3504,1586,117,374,925,1706,692,391,2493,1521,257,5430,15906,7,41,345,5390,1071,4129,9761,5394,3278,4827,701,491,4081,5392,6,499,3996,60412,111,5582],"class_list":{"0":"post-329586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-aaron-banks","9":"tag-aaron-rodgers","10":"tag-baltimore-ravens","11":"tag-bears","12":"tag-bo-nix","13":"tag-braxton-jones","14":"tag-chicago","15":"tag-chicago-bears","16":"tag-chicagobears","17":"tag-christian-wilkins","18":"tag-dallas-cowboys","19":"tag-davante-adams","20":"tag-elgton-jenkins","21":"tag-football","22":"tag-green-bay","23":"tag-green-bay-packers","24":"tag-jaire-alexander","25":"tag-jordan","26":"tag-josh-jacobs","27":"tag-keisean-nixon","28":"tag-kenny-clark","29":"tag-khalil-mack","30":"tag-kyler-murray","31":"tag-matthew-golden","32":"tag-micah-parsons","33":"tag-mitch-trubisky","34":"tag-nate-hobbs","35":"tag-nfl","36":"tag-patrick-mahomes","37":"tag-rashan-gary","38":"tag-san-francisco-forty-niners","39":"tag-washington-commanders","40":"tag-xavier-mckinney"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}