By stepping up and landing Micah Parsons on the eve of the 2025 NFL season, the Packers have made themselves the team to beat in the NFC North — and perhaps the conference’s best challenger to the defending champion Eagles.
Elite players like Parsons — in his absolute prime at age 26 — are rarely traded in the NFL. Green Bay had to give up two first-round picks and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Realistically, though, neither of those picks will be in the top 25. The Packers are also paying the largest contract ever for a non-quarterback by a considerable margin — four years and reportedly $188 million, or $47 million a year.
Green Bay had a formidable defense last year — sixth in scoring, fifth in total defense, fourth in takeaways. That was without Parsons, who led Dallas to the second-best sack rate in the NFL.
The Packers were no slouch there, ranking 10th. By adding Parsons to their front, this is now a top-five defense that could make defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley a top head-coaching candidate for 2026.
Sam Hodde/Getty Images. Micah Parsons made it clear that he wanted to be traded during the Cowboys’ last preseason game.
The NFC North was two things last year — easily the best division in the regular season, going a combined 45-23, and also a division that unceremoniously went 0-3 in the playoffs. The Packers went 11-6, still way back of the Lions (15-2) and Vikings (14-3).
That gap has already shrunk — the LIons lost both coordinators to head coaching jobs elsewhere, and the Vikings have uncertainty at quarterback in J.J. McCarthy, who’s yet to take a snap in the league. Add in an ascending Bears team with Caleb Williams and first-year coach Ben Johnson, and you have easily the most intriguing division in the league.
For months, all through summer, any talk of Parsons actually getting traded was quickly shot down with a reminder that, for all the nasty exchanges and public acrimony, these contract spats with superstars are almost always resolved with a huge check, a hug and bygones.
Jerry Jones wants the attention, everyone said, but he’ll get it done eventually, as he did with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, at considerable cost.
But this trade really happened. It’s the biggest non-quarterback trade since Khalil Mack went from the Raiders to the Bears at almost exactly this time of year in 2018, also drawing two first-rounders and then some in a package of picks. And yes, Mack had 12.5 sacks and was a first-team All-Pro and the Bears went 12-4 … and lost in the wild-card round. And haven’t won more than eight games in a season since. The Raiders only got so much from the picks they got for Mack — what’s funny is the biggest piece in that trade was running back Josh Jacobs … who’s now in Green Bay with Parsons.
How much better can Parsons make the Packers? Consider these five numbers — two, two, two, three and 10. Green Bay went 11-6 last year, but they did that despite going 1-5 in their division with four of the five losses by a field goal or less.
If you think that Parsons could make the Packers a better team by a field goal, that could flip that record from 1-5 to 5-1, and it’s easy to see the Packers as NFC North champs.
Not totally sold? Consider what Parsons has done in his brief NFL career against his new NFC North rivals — 2-0 against the Lions with two sacks and a forced fumble, 2-0 against the Vikings with two sacks and a forced fumble, and 1-0 against the Bears with a fumble recovery and a touchdown.
This is a division that didn’t win a playoff game last year, so it’s hard to project how regular-season success will translate to an extended postseason run. Parsons will have a chance to prove himself against two of the NFC’s top teams right away, as the Packers open at home against the Lions, then play host to the Commanders just four days later on Thursday.
If you’re looking for absolute TV ratings gold, it’s a Week 4 game where the Packers play at the Cowboys on Sunday night. If we set the line at 2.5 sacks for Parsons, it’s still a tough call, right?
If Green Bay was lurking under the radar, hiding in the shadow of the Lions and Vikings and looking forward to a third-place schedule, this now puts them squarely in the spotlight — there’s a Week 10 Monday night game at Lambeau against the Eagles that feels like a potential playoff preview, if not an NFC Championship Game preview.
What kind of playoff force can Parsons be for Green Bay? He played in four playoff games with Dallas and mustered a single sack between them. His last taste of the playoffs? That was January 2024, and the Cowboys took a 48-32 loss at home against … the Packers, who would lose at San Francisco a week later.
Green Bay hasn’t won multiple playoff games in the same postseason since 2016, but adding Parsons is the kind of blockbuster move that could change that in January.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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