Packers edge rusher whose August trade from Dallas reset the non-QB contract market.
Micah Parsons opened the 2025 season in Green Bay, not Dallas. The Cowboys shipped him to the Packers on August 28, 2025 in exchange for Kenny Clark and two first-round picks after a long contract standoff. Parsons immediately signed a four-year, $188 million extension that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. He delivered 12.5 sacks and a top-three PFF defensive grade before a December knee injury ended his season.
Path to the league
Penn State All-American who opted out of the 2020 college season due to COVID concerns. Cowboys took him 12th overall in 2021. Won Defensive Rookie of the Year by recording 13 sacks, becoming the first rookie since Aldon Smith with double-digit sacks and a Pro Bowl nod in the same year. Made All-Pro four straight seasons.
Career highlights
2021 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Four-time first-team All-Pro. Four-time Pro Bowler. 70-plus career sacks across five seasons. Held out of multiple preseasons over contract disputes before the August 2025 trade resolved everything. Four-year, $188 million extension signed immediately after arriving in Green Bay.
2025 season recap
12.5 sacks, 41 tackles, one pass defended in 14 games. 91.9 overall PFF grade, third among edge defenders. Career-high three-sack game on October 19 against the Cardinals (NFC Defensive Player of the Week). Suffered a non-contact knee injury rushing Bo Nix in Week 15 and missed the rest of the season.
What to watch in 2026
Parsons enters year one of his $188 million deal fully healthy. Green Bay drafted edge rusher Mason Graham seventh overall and traded for veteran defensive tackle help. The pass rush is being built around Parsons in a way Dallas never managed to. Packers opened at +1300 to win Super Bowl LXI, tied for fifth on the board.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Micah Parsons
- Packers: 5 things about Micah Parsons
- Sports Illustrated: Packers 2025 DL grades
Statistics
2025 season and career2025 Season · Defense
14 games played▶Defense · career
| Year | Team | GP | TOT | SOLO | SACK | INT | FF | FR | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | packers | 14 | 41 | 19 | 12.5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 | cowboys | 13 | 43 | 30 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | cowboys | 17 | 64 | 36 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2022 | cowboys | 17 | 65 | 42 | 13.5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 2021 | cowboys | 16 | 84 | 64 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Player Profile
Background
- Position
- Defensive End
- Group
- defense
- College
- Penn State
- Hometown
- Harrisburg, PA, USA
- Age
- 27
- Status
- active
Latest news about Micah Parsons
All news →Packers CEO Ed Policy: Financial Bump Needed to Stay Competitive
The league's only publicly owned franchise posted an operating loss for the first time in a non-pandemic year since 1990, and Policy says the team lacks the capital-raising tools other owners have.
Packers Sign Devonte Wyatt to 3-Year, $57 Million Extension
Green Bay keeps its defensive line rebuild rolling, locking up the 2022 first-round pick through 2029 with a $20 million signing bonus despite the ankle injury that ended his 2025 season.
Packers keep Isaiah McDuffie off the market with a one-year extension
Green Bay locked in its homegrown linebacker on a deal worth $8.8 million over the next two seasons, closing off what would have been an unrestricted free agency run in 2027 and adding another layer of continuity to a busy front-seven offseason.
Tucker Kraft Says He Will Be Ready for Week 1 With No Pitch Count
Seven months removed from ACL surgery, the Packers tight end says his rehab is ahead of schedule and he plans to play a full workload when the season opens.
The Browns think they can unlock another level in Jared Verse by simplifying his job
Verse already ranks third in the NFL in pressures since 2024, behind only Parsons and Garrett. Cleveland's plan: move him from a two-point stance to a hand in the dirt and let him stop thinking.
While Micah Parsons rehabs, Zaire Franklin and Javon Hargrave have to hold the Packers' defense together
Green Bay added a tackle-machine linebacker and a veteran interior rusher this offseason. With Parsons out until at least mid-October, the two newcomers carry more weight than the headlines suggested.
