EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsGREEN BAY, Wis. -- Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons returned to practice on Wednesday for the first time since tearing his ACL last year, a significant step in his recovery process, but he's not yet giving reporters -- or his family -- a firm return date.The Packers opened Parsons' 21-day window to practice while still on the physically unable to perform list. The end of that three week period lines up perfectly with the Packers' Thanksgiving Eve game at the Los Angeles Rams."My family even been asking me, 'You going to play? Should we buy flights to come out there?'" Parsons said Wednesday. "And I'm telling them, 'I still got two weeks of practice ... Hey we just gotta pay for last minute flights. It is what it is. You can buy your flight and cancel last minute, that's up to you, but I'm not going to pinpoint a day to disappoint anyone or get people expectations that I can't meet.' I gotta stack 20 days and hopefully on that 21st day I feel incredible."The Packers limited Parsons to only individual drills on Wednesday, and the things he did on the field were things that he had done off to the side with the trainers. He won't actually begin to take any 11-on-11 reps until next week at the earliest. But what Parsons did on Wednesday, he did at full speed."He's been cleared to go full go in regards to what he's doing out there," Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. "So, I think just how they limit him in his ability where it's just individual, but I expect him to go when he's out there. He's been cleared for that. We'll just take it one day at a time and, hopefully, he'll be ready to go sooner than later."Parsons' return on Wednesday came 324 days after he was injured last December in Week 14 against the Broncos. He underwent surgery two weeks later. Parsons' return took longer than most players with torn ACLs because he also tore his meniscus, which Parsons said required a full lateral and medial meniscus repair. He said he spent nearly two months on crutches.In 14 games last season after the Packers acquired Parsons from the Cowboys in a trade just before the 2025 season, he had 12.5 sacks and led the NFL with 64 quarterback pressures, according to ESPN Analytics."Am I going to be the All-Pro Micah, the person I once was this year?" Parsons said. "Probably not until later, after I go through all my phases and things like that, but I think what people will see is they're going to see, 'This guy's ready to play football and he's going to play hard and he's going to help boost this defense, which is already doing a great job.'"I think you'll see flashes of All-Pro Micah when I get to pass rush, and there's going to be times when you're going to be like, 'Dang, what was Micah doing?' There's going to be times when I question myself, too. Like, what was I doing right there? I'm not ashamed of that. I'm not afraid of seeing the failure because I just came back from 11-month injury."Parsons said his conditioning right now is "probably the worst it's been in my career," but he expects that to change quickly."First it's just understanding that I gotta get into more of a football shape, integrating into snaps and reps over these next 21 days and then just feel like we're at a really good spot where they're willing to just let me go," Parsons said.
