The Green Bay Packers could be forced to navigate a healthy chunk of the 2026 NFL season without All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons. Parsons missed each of Green Bay's final four games of the 2025 campaign, including its Wild Card loss to the Chicago Bears, and will enter the new year on the team's PUP list.
His absence proved a significant loss for the Packers' defense, which allowed 400 yards in three of its final four games without Parsons, recording just two sacks during that stretch. The front office addressed the void its defense will face without the four-time All-Pro, beefing up the unit with greater depth during the offseason.
The Packers bolstered their defensive front with the addition of veteran tackle Javon Hargrave and added to the edge group with the selection of Penn State product Dani Dennis-Sutton in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. Dennis-Sutton joins second-year rusher Collin Oliver behind Parsons on the depth chart, though both young players will be called on for valuable reps early in the 2026 season.
Oliver was limited to one appearance in his rookie campaign, finishing a four-year career at Oklahoma State with 23.5 sacks and 40.5 tackles for loss over 43 games. He'll likely come into the season behind Dennis-Sutton on the depth chart, who emerged as a high-profile prospect considering his draft positioning after a productive 8.5-sack campaign for the Nittany Lions in 2025.
The two will split time on Jonathan Gannon's rush rotation early in 2026, as Parsons navigates the final weeks of his recovery leading up to his return.
Lukas Van Ness, Dani Dennis-Sutton Headline Packers' Pass-Rush In Micah Parsons' Absence
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Now in his fourth NFL season, former No. 13 overall pick Lukas Van Ness will be looked on to anchor a youthful Packers' pass-rush group in Parsons' absence. The five-time Pro Bowler is slated to return around mid-October, which could set him up for a Week 6 return against his former squad in the Dallas Cowboys.
That will force Gannon's defense to lean on the likes of Van Ness and Dennis-Sutton over Green Bay's first five games, with a relatively favorable start to the season concerning the team's schedule. Van Ness hasn't lived up to first-round expectations over the first three years of his professional career, but could change the narratives surrounding his production with an explosive start to the 2026 campaign.
The rookie of the group in Dennis-Sutton could carve out the starting job opposite Van Ness over the first few weeks of his NFL career. Both Dennis-Sutton and Oliver will be monitored during training camp, as the Packers face the task of sustaining production from the pass-rush without the unit's top asset.
Green Bay's defense projects to retain its status as one of the top units in the league upon Parsons' return, coming off an encouraging campaign last season prior to his injury.
