Micah Parsons is rewriting Green Bay Packers' history, matching Reggie White's legendary sack streak. Unleash him, and he conquers quarterbacks.
Green Bay Packers' star tight end Micah Parsons has done his job adequately this season. At least, that's how he sees it.
After notching two more sacks in a 23-6 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 12, Parsons has now accumulated 10 sacks on the season. The last time the Packers had a 10-sack player was in 2020, when Za'Darius Smith totalled 12.5. The last player before that was Nick Perry in 2016 with 11 total sacks.
Parsons now has 10 and the Packers still have six games to go. At the pace he's been playing as of late, he very well could end up with 16 sacks when all is said and done. More than that could be on the table as well, because he's now notched three multi-sack games if you count his 1.5 sacks against the New York Giants (and you should).
It's all in a day's work for Parsons, though. To him, 10 sacks in one season is a minimum. He said as much after Green Bay's win over Minnesota.
"I wouldn't say it's like a feat where it's very easy or anything like that," Parsons said, according to ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "But you know, it's a standard of play."
If this is the floor for Parsons, and it absolutely has been his floor through five NFL seasons, the Packers will never regret the four-year, $186 million contract nor the two first round picks they spent on trading for him -- not to mention Kenny Clark.
He's just the second player ever to notched double-digit sacks in each of his first five NFL seasons. The other was Reggie White, who the Packers know a bit. He did it for nine straight seasons to start his career. Those first nine came when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles, but he still put up 68.5 sacks in six seasons in Green Bay. That's an average of 11 sacks per season.
For Parsons, 10 is the minimum. His best in a season was 14 in 2023 with the Dallas Cowboys. As mentioned, he has a chance to get that and more over the next six games of this season as long as the Packers play a style that allows him to get after the quarterback.
What that means is the offense needs to allow this defense to play from ahead, so Parsons and his teammates can pin their ears back and get after the quarterback. No matter what happens, though, defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley just needs to let his superstar loose.
"When I get a chance, I win," Parsons said. "I affect the quarterback. I do what I do, but it's about just getting to the opportunities."