Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Monday that the team plans for star edge rusher Micah Parsons to practice this week for the first time since tearing his ACL and meniscus on Dec. 14.
"That would be the intention," LaFleur said when asked if Parsons would practice this week. "It's going to be dependent upon the next couple of days, but we're hopeful that he'll be able to get out there sometime this week."
If the Packers use all 21 days of Parsons' window to be activated before adding him to the active roster, as LaFleur indicated they would, that puts him on track to return against the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 25 at SoFi Stadium.
The Packers visit the New England Patriots this Sunday and host the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday before their Week 11 bye. In Week 12, they play the Rams on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
Parsons earned first-team All-Pro honors last season despite missing the final three games after suffering the major knee injury in Denver in Week 15. He also started the season on a snap count after missing time with the Dallas Cowboys in the preseason because of a back injury.
Through the season's first 15 weeks, Parsons ranked tied for third in the league with 12.5 sacks, first with 83 total quarterback pressures and first with a 20.7 pressure rate, according to NFL Pro. He finished third in NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Without Parsons, the Packers have gone 5-3 and just delivered their best pass-rushing game of the season. Six different players registered sacks in a 27-19 win over the Carolina Panthers, and the Packers logged a season-high 52.2 percent pressure rate.
Last month, Parsons provided insight on his podcast, "The Edge with Micah Parsons," on why he hadn't returned to practice yet.
"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," Parsons said. "It's just about me making sure I have all the small things fixed first.
"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 (injuries), 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. 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's bothering me."
Now, a team that has won four of its past five games appears closer to getting its best player back.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
