With Micah Parsons sidelined, Lukas Van Ness must block out external noise and translate his massive physical tools into elite production to anchor the Green Bay Packers' pass rush.
Green Bay Packers EDGE Lukas Van Ness needs to deactivate his social media. He needs to cancel any newspaper subscriptions he may have.
Van Ness is certainly under a ton of pressure heading into the 2026 NFL season. The Packers are expecting the former first round pick to step up big in his fourth NFL season. Not only did they recently pick up his fifth-year option, which guarantees him $14.5 million in 2027, but they're counting on him to bring the heat while Micah Parsons works his way back from a torn ACL.
Parsons is expected to miss at least a few games to start the season, which means that Van Ness is the de facto star on the edges for the Packers. Keep in mind, Green Bay traded Rashan Gary and let Kingsley Enagbare walk in free agency. They've got some young talent with exciting potential, but this pass-rush is really going to be generated by LVN and Parsons.
The bad news for the Packers is that Van Ness has only 8.5 career sacks. The good news for the Packers, and Van Ness, is that he has the ultimate hype-man in Parsons.
“I think Luke is someone that people sleep on the most, and I don’t know why,” Parsons recently said of Van Ness, according to Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. “I think by the end of this season, if Luke stays healthy, I think he’ll probably be the favorite. That’s how much confidence I have in him.”
This could be, of course, the case of a teammate trying to lift another teammate who could use a bit of a boost. If anything, Parsons is a phenomenal leader for the Packers' defense.
If Parsons truly believes in LVN, though, and it seems he does, he needs to tell him to stop reading the press clippings. In the same comments about the former Iowa Hawkeye's potential, Parsons said that he thinks Van Ness listens to the media too much.
"I believe in him," Parsons said. "I think sometimes, he looks into y’all (the media) and that gets to him, but I think he can be as great as he wants to be.”
So how great does Van Ness want to be?
He's got the size and strength to be elite. He checks in at 6-foot-5, 272 pounds and he's built like an unmovable mountain. He's shown flashes of being able to blend that size with great athleticism, so there's no reason why he shouldn't be able to come off the edge and be a terror for the Packers.
If it's really in his head, and perhaps it is, the Packers need LVN to block everything else out and get to work. Slam the lid shut on that laptop, delete Instagram and Facebook and come out swinging in 2026.
Anything short of living up to his potential as the No. 13 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft would be a disappointment for the Packers.
Because Parsons could miss a good chunk of the 2026 season, anything short of that could also lead to a serious lack of pass rush for the Packers, and that could be disastrous.
At the very least, Van Ness seems to understand his mission heading into this season.
“I think I’ve learned a lot about myself internally," he said. "There’s a lot of noise out there, a lot of distractions and just focusing on guys in the building and the task at hand of just winning a Super Bowl. I’m feeling good. I’m feeling healthy. I’m getting back to normal again, and I feel good with where I’m at.
“At the end of the day, I feel like talk is cheap. You’ve just got to put it out there when it matters.”
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