Micah Parsons Is Out Again Thursday Night: Why His ACL Recovery Is Taking Longer Than Patrick Mahomes's, and Why November Was Always the Likely Return
The former Cowboy tore his ACL and meniscus on the same December day Mahomes tore his ACL. Mahomes has played all season; Parsons has not walked this road as fast - he did not walk without assistance for eight weeks - and Green Bay's hope now is only that he practices next week.
Micah Parsons is a search term again on a night he is not playing. The Green Bay Packers' star pass rusher, the former Dallas Cowboy, will miss his eighth straight game on Thursday Night Football against the Carolina Panthers, still on the reserve/physically unable to perform list and not yet cleared to resume football activities, Pro Football Network reported - and 'micah parsons' sat on the U.S. trends board read by this desk Thursday night at 2,000-plus searches.
The comparison driving the searches is a date. Parsons and Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes each tore an ACL on December 14, 2025 - Parsons's injury, against Denver, also tore the meniscus in his left knee, and he underwent reconstructive surgery later that month. Mahomes was fully cleared for training camp and has played in every Chiefs game this season. ESPN's analysis, via Dr. Sharif Tabbah, attributes the gap to that meniscus repair: a repaired meniscus restricts bending the knee past 90 degrees for four to eight weeks, protecting the repair at the cost of a much slower start to rehabilitation.
ESPN's Rob Demovsky reported Thursday why, inside the building, 'a November return was always the most likely' outcome. A source told ESPN: 'Micah has to play a different game than most guys and relies on his speed and athleticism - on top of the fact that he had the meniscus [tear, which] made it a longer recovery period.' Parsons himself told ESPN this week that he did not walk without assistance for eight weeks after surgery; most ACL patients are off crutches within two. He had produced 12.5 sacks and was leading the NFL in pressures when he was hurt.
The next milestone is practice, not a game. Head coach Matt LaFleur, asked Tuesday whether Parsons could open his practice window next week, answered, 'I sure hope so' - a shift, Packers Wire noted, from the clear 'no' answers of earlier weeks, with the decision still a medical one. Even a practice return next week would need a ramp-up before a debut, which Packers Wire placed more likely in Week 10 against Minnesota or after the bye in Week 12 against the Rams. For Texas fans, the circled date already passed him by: Parsons had wanted the Week 6 game against Dallas, his former club. November, it turns out, was always the realistic month.
