Micah Parsons Return Unlikely for Week 6 Matchup with Cowboys

It appears Micah Parsons will be unavailable for the Green Bay Packers' upcoming game against Parsons' former team, the Dallas Cowboys, in Week 6.

ESPN insider Adam Schefter reports that Parsons, who suffered a torn ACL late last season, will not return to practice this week and thus is not likely to make his 2026 debut on Oct. 18 for the Cowboys-Packers "Sunday Night Football" affair at Lambeau Field.

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When the NFL schedule dropped in May, Parsons and the Packers circled the Week 6 primetime slot against Dallas as a potential target for the star edge rusher's return. Parsons suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in Green Bay's Week 15 game last December and has been listed on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list throughout this season.

Of course, there has already been a previous matchup between Parsons and the team that ended its contract impasse with him just days before the beginning of last season by trading him to the Packers.

In Week 4 a year ago, Green Bay traveled to Arlington and drew with the Cowboys, 40-40, in front of a national audience. Though he was quiet throughout the game, Parsons came up clutch with a sack of Dak Prescott late in the fourth quarter to prevent a touchdown.

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Parsons reached double-digit sacks for the fifth year in a row to begin his career, but Green Bay went winless without him on the way to a 9-7-1 record. Parsons responded to the record-setting contract he received from Green Bay by finishing third in Defensive Player of the Year voting and landing on the All-Pro First Team.

Parsons' status and recovery timetable has been clouded by uncertainty this season.

"[The] guy is working his butt off to be out there," Packers coach Matt LaFleur said last week to reporters, though not adding any further details besides Parsons making "some good progress in the last week, but time will tell."

Going into the new week, Green Bay will also be without defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who is out for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered in this past weekend's blowout win over the Chicago Bears. Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper also tore his Achilles in Week 4 and is out for the season.

The Packers' win moved them to 3-2 on the season. Dallas dropped to 2-3 after a frustrating loss to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football.

"Obviously, really excited for our team and winning the game, but I just saw Hargrave and it doesn't look good," LaFleur said postgame. "That kind of takes the air out of the room a little bit when you lose such a - just not only a great player but a great guy, a key piece to this team - and it kind of puts a little bit of a cloud on the day."