Micah Parsons starts Packers camp on PUP list, reportedly could return from ACL tear for Week 6 showdown vs. Cowboys
As expected, Micah Parsons is starting training camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list as he continues to recover from an ACL tear.
The Green Bay Packers placed him on the PUP list Tuesday. But there was reporting Tuesday that should get Packers fans and football fans in general excited.
Per The Athletic's Packers beat writer, Matt Schneidman, the timeline points to a good chance that Parsons returns for a Week 6 showdown against his former Dallas Cowboys on "Sunday Night Football." Assuming that both teams are playing competitive football by then, that would add up to a must-watch game for NFL fans.
Parsons tore his left ACL in Week 15 on Dec. 14 last season against the Denver Broncos. He had surgery on Dec. 30. Per Schneidman, the Packers have a strict "nine-month no-football rule" after an ACL tear, which would place him back on the practice field at the earliest on Sept. 30, four days before a Week 4 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Play Yahoo's new College Fantasy Football game: Create or join a league now!
That timeline would give Parsons roughly 2 ½ weeks to ramp up for Green Bay's Oct. 18 home game against the Cowboys. And that's what Schneidman expects to happen.
"He's probably gonna return Week 6 here at Lambeau, "Sunday Night Football" against, who? The Dallas Cowboys," Schneidman told "The Pat McAfee Show."
Schneidman later tweeted that a Week 6 return for Parsons is "a best-case scenario." And, of course, any injury recovery projection this far out is just that — a projection. But it's a scenario that certainly makes sense and one that Parsons is surely targeting.
Parsons got his first shot at the Cowboys last season in Week 3. He sacked Dak Prescott once and hit him on two other occasions as Dallas and Green Bay played to a 40-40 tie. He went on to his fourth All-Pro campaign in his first season with the Packers with 12.5 sacks before the injury cut his season short.
The Packers are counting on another All-Pro level season once he returns as they seek to overtake the reigning NFC North champion Chicago Bears for the division title and compete for a Super Bowl.
