Micah Parsons was ready for the moment Friday night in Green Bay. The ex-Dallas Cowboys pass rusher wore an appropriately yellow beanie for his introductory news conference, called back to his days of youth sports playing for the Harrisburg Packers in Pennsylvania, foreshadowed a potential Lambeau Leap and talked about his appreciation for the Packers organization and its storied history that even he noted is rooted in public ownership.
Parsons tastefully made it known how happy he is to be moving on from his previous situation, a contract standoff with billionaire owner and showman Jerry Jones, who doubles as the Cowboys’ general manager.
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Parsons, however, was much more transparent about how his back injury and contract dispute have made the first half of 2025 more than just challenging.
“These last four months have been probably the hardest four months of my life,” Parsons said.
He added: “I have not played football this long since I was in seventh grade and I was overweight.”
Back then, Parsons missed a whole season while navigating a growth spurt and missing weigh-ins for middle school football.
Being away from the game again for extended time — this time as a 26-year-old, four-time Pro Bowl sack artist — was eating at Parsons.
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He made sure his agent, David Mulugheta, knew exactly how he was feeling when he called him early Thursday afternoon.
“I was like, ‘Bro, you need to hurry up and get me on the field. You need to get me moving. I don’t really like this waiting game,'” Parsons said, recalling his phone conversation with Mulugheta.
Less than five hours later, Mulugheta called Parsons back and told him a deal wasn’t almost done. Soon enough, Parsons was off to Green Bay, with the Cowboys receiving two first-round picks and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark in return.
“Y’all don’t understand how relieved I felt,” Parsons told reporters Friday in Green Bay.
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‘Physically, I’m great’
Although Parsons reported to Cowboys training camp at the end of July, he still hasn’t practiced this summer. He was dealing with a back injury, but Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer told reporters Tuesday that, “at this time,” Parsons is cleared medically to practice.
That said, NFL Network’s Jane Slater reported Wednesday, after Parsons’ MRI came back clean earlier in the week, that he was getting a second opinion on his back.
Naturally, Parsons was asked about his status Friday.
“Physically, I’m great,” Parsons said. “I think I can contribute a lot. I’m going to team up with the doctors and create a plan. We already talked about how we can ramp me up and get me in a flow where they feel comfortable and I feel comfortable.
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“My plan is to be here. They didn’t give up what they gave up for me to sit on the sidelines.”
Parsons also said he plans on wearing a No. 1 jersey with the Packers. He previously wore No. 11 with the Cowboys, with whom he piled up 52.5 sacks, 256 total tackles, 112 quarterback hits and nine forced fumbles in 63 regular-season games over his first four seasons in the league.
The Central Pennsylvania native rose to stardom at Penn State, where he also wore No. 11., became a consensus All-American, won the Big Ten Linebacker of the Year award and played his way into hearing his name called by the Cowboys, who selected him with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2021 draft.
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This story is being updated.
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