GREEN BAY \u2014 The Green Bay Packers know that Micah Parsons isn\u2019t walking through their locker-room door.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, the star edge rusher might come through on crutches with a bulky protective brace on his left knee in the wake of the ACL reconstruction surgery he underwent earlier this week. But it\u2019ll be to provide moral support and advice to his teammates \u2014 not to harass quarterbacks and tilt the field in the Packers\u2019 favor like he\u2019d been until his knee injury felled him on Dec. 14 in Denver.<\/p>\n
Perhaps he can give defensive end runningmate, Rashan Gary, a pep talk that gets Gary going. Because the Packers desperately need more from him.<\/p>\n
Not only have the Packers, who were leading the Broncos, 23-21, at the time of Parsons\u2019 injury, not won a game since, but they have registered only one sack: Linebacker Quay Walker\u2019s zero-yard takedown of Baltimore Ravens backup quarterback Tyler Huntley in last Saturday night\u2019s dispiriting loss at Lambeau Field<\/p>\n
And Gary has gone from starting the season like gangbusters when initially paired with Parsons \u2014 Gary registered 4.5 sacks in the first three weeks of the season \u2014 to a non-factor who played just 34 of the Packers\u2019 76 defensive snaps (45%) in their 41-24 loss to the Ravens.<\/p>\n
Saturday night marked the ninth consecutive game in which Gary failed to register a sack or a tackle for loss. His last sack came on Oct. 26, when he took ex-Packers four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers down twice in a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n
Less than three weeks after defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley delivered an impassioned defense of Gary<\/a>, it\u2019s hard to understand how the 2019 first-round draft pick \u2014 barely two years removed from signing a four-year, $96 million contract extension in October 2023 \u2014 hasn\u2019t been able to help offset the loss of Parsons.<\/p>\n Now, barring a 2.5-sack performance in Sunday\u2019s regular-season finale against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Gary will finish his seventh NFL season without having ever put up double-digit sacks.<\/p>\n For comparison, Parsons, who was the 12th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft just as Gary was the 12th pick in 2019, became the first player in league history to register at least 12 sacks in each of his first five NFL seasons.<\/p>\n Against the Ravens, defensive ends Kingsley Enagbare (60 snaps\/79%) and Lukas Van Ness (47 snaps\/62%) played more extensively.<\/p>\n Told those snap numbers and asked if the Packers needed more from Gary, head coach Matt LaFleur paused before sidestepping the question.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say that we need more from everybody. Just, the collective,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cEverybody has got to raise their level.<\/p>\n \u201cNot even raise their level. They\u2019ve got to do their job. How \u2018bout that? All 11 on the field, got to do their job. Nothing more, nothing less. … Do your job. Everybody does their job, we\u2019ve got a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n The Packers are meticulous about listing all players who are dealing with injuries, even relatively minor ones that won\u2019t sideline them by gameday, on the official injury report. Gary hasn\u2019t been on the report at all during his nine-game sack-free streak.<\/p>\n Asked if Gary has been dealing with an illness or some sort of undisclosed injury, LaFleur replied, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, after a pause, he added, \u201cI mean, all these guys are battling soreness, fatigue. It\u2019s a long year. But I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s not anything that any team\u2019s not dealing with at this stage of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the last nine games, Gary has seven quarterback hits, 22 pressures, one pass breakup and caused an Evan Williams interception of a J.J. McCarthy pass during the Packers\u2019 last matchup with the Vikings at Lambeau Field on Nov. 23.<\/p>\n Gary was credited with one assisted tackle and one quarterback hit against the Ravens, according to the official scorebook. NFL Next Gen Stats had Gary for one QB pressure.<\/p>\n Gary\u2019s overall 68.2 grade from Pro Football Focus ranks 53rd out of 115 graded edge rushers.<\/p>\n Out of 118 qualified edge defenders in 2025, Gary ranks 41st in Pro Football Focus\u2019 pass rush productivity metric and 60th in its pass rush win rate. His 68.2 overall grade ranks 53rd.<\/p>\n Gary has two years left on his existing deal<\/a> and is set to count $28.02 million against the salary cap in 2026, including an $18 million base salary. The Packers could restructure his deal \u2014 especially with Parsons\u2019 availability in question to start the season \u2014 or simply move on from him and save roughly $11 million in salary-cap space.<\/p>\n For his part, Gary insisted in the wake of Parsons\u2019 injury that he had \u201cbeen doing a great job of being effective<\/a>\u201d to that point in the season.<\/p>\n \u201cI know if I keep playing at a high level, keep playing how I’m playing, the plays are going to come and it’s going to be right what the team needs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But in early August, three weeks before general manager Brian Gutekunst sent the team\u2019s 2026 and 2027 first-round draft picks and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark to the Dallas Cowboys to acquire Parsons, Gary acknowledged that he needed to elevate his game.<\/p>\n