GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Green Bay Packers do not expect Micah Parsons to return to practice this week as they prepare to host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night at Lambeau Field, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Monday, citing sources.
According to Schefter, there is still uncertainty about when Parsons will come back from his knee injury, though the hope remains that he will return at some point in October. Kickoff on NBC is set for 7:20 p.m. CT on Oct. 18.
Parsons tore the ACL in his left knee in the third quarter of Green Bay’s 34-26 loss to the Denver Broncos on Dec. 14, 2025, at Empower Field at Mile High. The Packers placed him on the active/physically unable to perform list on July 28, and he has been eligible to resume practicing since Week 2. Once Green Bay opens his practice window, the team will have 21 days to work him back before he has to be activated.
On Oct. 3, the Ringer’s Tom Pelissero reported that Parsons was not expected to practice the following week and could return in November. Pelissero also reported that Parsons had not had any setbacks in his rehab, but that he was not yet ready for the Packers to open the 21-day window.
Matt LaFleur Says Parsons Has Had No Setbacks
A day after Green Bay’s 17-14 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 5, Packers coach Matt LaFleur called Parsons a generational talent and said he had not suffered any setbacks. He also said Parsons would not practice that week.
“The guy is working his butt off to be out there,” LaFleur said. “We’ve made some ground over the last week, but where and when he’ll be available, time will tell.”
During the week leading up to Green Bay’s game against the Chicago Bears, Matt Schneidman of The Athletic posted that Parsons was doing fairly strenuous running on the side at practice with a wrap or brace on his left knee. The Packers beat Chicago on Sunday to improve to 3-2.
Over the offseason, Parsons called Week 6 his “most optimistic” return date. He told Ryan Wood of USA Today that the Oct. 18 game against the Cowboys was a “very realistic” target for his 2026 debut.
Parsons’ Potential Return Would Come Against Former Team
Dallas drafted Parsons 12th overall out of Penn State in 2021, and he recorded 52.5 sacks in 63 games over four seasons with the Cowboys. He and Reggie White are the only players in NFL history to record at least 12 sacks in each of their first four seasons.
The Cowboys traded Parsons to Green Bay on Aug. 28, 2025, for two first-round picks and defensive lineman Kenny Clark. The Packers then signed Parsons to a four-year, $188 million extension that included $136 million guaranteed, and he recorded 12.5 sacks in his first season in Green Bay before the knee injury.
In Parsons’ only game against Dallas since the trade, the teams played to a 40-40 tie on Sept. 28, 2025, at AT&T Stadium on Sunday Night Football. The Cowboys enter Sunday at 2-2 after their bye week.
