Green Bay Packers star Micah Parsons has been out since tearing his ACL during the Packers' Week 15 loss to the Denver Broncos last season. But there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
Parsons had his 21-day practice window open on Wednesday, so he spoke with local media for the first time about his injury and recovery process. However, there's still no set timeline on when he should return to the field. Even if there was, he likely wouldn't let us know.
"I just want it to be a surprise," Parsons said during his media availability regarding the timeline. "I just want it to be a fulfilling moment for myself, the staff — just to enjoy that day and not put too much pressure on that day. My family [has] even been asking me, 'You going to play? Should we buy flights to come out there?'
"But I'm not going to pinpoint a day to disappoint anyone or give people expectations that I can't meet."
Parsons noted that in addition to having surgery on the torn ACL, he had a full repair of the medial and lateral menisci in his knee. He was therefore non-weight-bearing for two months, which is why his recovery timeline has been longer than some other players who have suffered torn ACLs in recent years.
Parsons said he had to undergo in-depth conditioning to get his body back into shape, just to get to the point he is right now. But there's still a long process ahead. He doesn't expect to be his full self when he does get back into game action.
"My conditioning right now is probably the worst it's been in my career," Parsons said. "And that's just the reality of it. Am I going to go out there and play 50, 60 snaps how I was doing before? Absolutely not. It's just not realistic. My body is not there yet...So I'm not going to be the All-Pro Micah, the person I once was, this year. Probably not until later, after I go through my phases and things like that, but I think what people will see is they'll see this guy is ready to play football. He's going to play hard, and he's going to boost this defense that's already doing a great job."
"I think those types of things you won't question, and I think you'll see flashes of All-Pro Micah when I do the pass rush, and there will be times where it's like, 'Dang, what was Micah doing?' And there's going to be times I question myself too...Because the reality is I just came back from an 11-month injury."
Even though Parsons has already been out for nearly a full year and will still take some more time to return to the field for actual games, he feels like he took the right course in his rehab process. He felt "the patience was absolutely worth it" and hopes to make a full run with the team well into December and into the playoffs.
Parsons is returning to a Packers team that has turned its season around over the last few weeks. Green Bay fell to 1-2 with an embarrassing "Thursday Night Football" loss to the Atlanta Falcons in late September but has since gone 4-1, with the lone loss coming by three points against the division rival Detroit Lions. As they head into the stretch run of the season, the Packers are in position to make a playoff push. And Parsons feels as though he is getting ready to return at the perfect moment.
"I came back for the greatest time of football," he said. "And that's November football and December football. Let the show begin."
