Packers: Micah Parsons Is Being Extra Cautious With His Return From Injury

Micah Parsons could be playing right now for the Green Bay Packers if he wanted to be.

By the sound of it, the torn ACL he suffered in December of last season has healed to that point.

If there were a game today that he "had" to play in, like the Super Bowl, he'd be out there on the field with his teammates.

Parsons has long maintained that his recovery from the torn ACL is more about the long term for both the Packers and his career than the short term. He's been clear that he doesn't want to rush back because when he's back on the field, he wants to be at his best.

Recently, on his podcast, Parsons explained in more depth what his mindset is regarding a potential return. He's so committed to his recovery that he's not just thinking about the torn ACL, but about potential overcompensation injuries moving forward.

"The biggest thing that people worried about with me, they're like, 'Man, why ain't he back yet?' If the Super Bowl was this week, I'm playing in the Super Bowl. But it's just about me making sure I have all the small things fixed first," Parsons said (h/t Matt Schneidman). "What a lot of people don't figure out is it's not just the ACL. It's like, why did the ACL happen? What was weak? Because it all works together. It's a chain. And throughout the history of ACL, they notice if you come back early, there tends to be an overcompensation injury on the other side ... we just gon' make sure everything is right before."

The Packers are 3-2 and are looking ahead to a Week 6 Sunday Night Football contest with the Dallas Cowboys.

This game has been circled in the past as a potential return date for Parsons. Not only did it fit the recovery timeline, but there's the added emotional element of returning against his former team.

That does not seem to matter to Parsons, though. He has said in the past that getting back for the Cowboys game would be nice, but his long-term thinking is pushing out any other thoughts right now.

He's not going to play against the Cowboys, but that doesn't really matter in the long term for either him or the Pack.

He's not just simply trying to make a comeback for a few games. He wants to return as the same Parsons who notched 12.5 sacks in 14 games last season.

"Because everyone knows, it's like, what's the point of getting me back for four weeks and then next thing you know, my groin bothering me," he explained.