The Green Bay Packers simply can't catch a break with Micah Parsons. The star pass rusher arrived in Wisconsin with a back injury, and he couldn't finish his first season with the team because of a torn ACL.
Now, the former Dallas Cowboys star has all but confirmed that he won't be available for Week 1. He said he still has four months left in his recovery, meaning he'll likely start the season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
While that's a major concern the Packers must try to address before training camp, it might also lead them down the wrong path. With a glaring hole in the pass-rushing unit, they might talk themselves into going after Haason Reddick.
The Packers can't afford to fool themselves with Haason Reddick
Ever since the Packers hired Jonathan Gannon as their new defensive coordinator, a reunion with Reddick has been floated as a possibility. They know each other from their time with the Philadelphia Eagles, but that feels like a lifetime ago.
Reddick's holdout may have killed his career. He was a non-factor once he was traded to the New York Jets two years ago, and he failed to take his career back from the ground in his lone year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
After logging 11.0 sacks and a Pro-Bowl selection in 2023, Reddick has combined for a grand total of 45 tackles (27 solo), 8 tackles for loss, 9 QB hits, 3.5 sacks, 2 passes defensed, and 2 forced fumbles in 23 games (14 starts).
Reddick is already past his prime, and it's hard to believe he can make much of an impact at this point in his career. Spotrac projects his market value at $4.9 million per year, which is a fairly reasonable price for a veteran pass rusher, but that doesn't mean they should want him.
The Packers clearly trust that Lukas Van Ness will figure things out, stay healthy, and pick up where he left off last season. Even if that's the case, it might not be enough to make up for Parsons' absence.
That said, they might be better off giving rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton as many reps as he can handle rather than bringing a has-been pass rusher with a big ego and a history of burning bridges. Chris McCllelan is also raw, but giving the rookies a baptism by fire might actually spice things up.
There's simply no way to replace Micah Parsons, and it will require a team effort to pick up the slack. Signing 32-year-old Haason Reddick won't change that, not even if he's already familliar with Gannon's defense.
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