It's the news that everybody in the NFL is talking about. Love it or hate it, the Green Bay Packers took a huge swing and came away with one of the best overall defensive players in the NFL via a trade with the Dallas Cowboys.
Pass-rusher Micah Parsons is now a member of the Packers, and this is a move that will have huge ramifications on Green Bay's defense for years to come. Future Hall of Fame-type players just don't come available often on the trade market, but the Packers were able to leverage Parsons' desire for a long-term contract and Dallas owner Jerry Jones' lack of desire to give him one to ultimately persuade Jones to let go of the four-time Pro Bowler and two-time All Pro.
Now, defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has the fun task of figuring out how to best utilize the 6-foot-3, 245 pound linebacker from Penn State, but one thing is for certain...Rashan Gary's life just got that much easier.
Gary has been an EDGE for the Packers ever since they selected him with the 12th overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Michigan. He was selected high, but taken as a project to learn the intricacies of being an NFL pass-rusher and grow behind Za'Darius Smith and Preston Smith.
Gary came on slowly, with two sacks in his first season and five sacks in his second season, but he quickly became one of the top pressure-getters in the NFL. The sack numbers haven't always been there — his career high is 9.5 sacks in 2021 — but he's always been great at using speed on the edges to get pressure. He's just had a hard time getting home at an elite level. Even still, he notched 16.5 sacks over the past two seasons.
Now, though, the Packers have done Gary the favor of putting a player with one of the best pass-rush win rates in the NFL across from him. Parsons can get pressure, but he's also elite at finishing at the quarterback.
He's had at least 12 sacks in each of his four NFL seasons, with his high water mark so far being 14 sacks in 2023.
Defenses are going to be forced to focus on stopping Parsons first, which means a player on the opposite edge like Gary will have the opportunity to absolutely feast. Throw in two fast and athletic linebackers in Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper, and there's a world in which Gary has now become the fourth player in the pecking order of who opposing pass-protectors have to focus on.
What that means for Gary is that double teams are going to consistently be going Parsons' way, so if he can just focus on getting in the backfield and finishing his rushes at the quarterback, he could end up having an elite season in 2025.
There's an old saying amongst pass-rushers that undoubtedly will be taken up in the Packers' locker room this season.
"Meet at the quarterback".