Winners and Losers From Packers’ Trade for Micah Parsons

Rashan Gary has been Green Bay’s best pass rusher since Za’Darius Smith’s disappearance. Thus, he’s always been targeted by opposing offensive coordinators, and that’s played a role in him not reaching double-digits sacks in his first six seasons.

Gary might not see a double-team block the rest of his career. A really good player could be primed for that long-awaited breakout season.

Winner: Edgerrin Cooper

Edgerrin Cooper also is a chess piece for the Packers. Amazingly, he led all NFL rookies in tackles for losses last season, even while playing less than 50 percent of the snaps. A big-time playmaker, especially when put into attack mode, what will Cooper be able to do when he’s lined up right next to Parsons?

The best rookie linebacker in the league last season might end this season considered the best linebacker in the league, period.

“I feel great. Better than ever. Just ready to get to it,” Cooper said last week. “I’m just focused on playing my best ball and if things come like sacks and pressures, that’s great. I just want to make sure I give it all I got.”

Winner: Nazir Stackhouse

With Kenny Clark sent to Dallas in the trade, who’s going to stop the run? As an undrafted rookie, Stackhouse probably was going to start the season as the sixth defensive tackle. Heck, he might have been a healthy scratch to start the season.

Without Clark, Stackhouse will be a mainstay on the defense and one of the team’s more important players. It’ll be up to him to take advantage of the opportunity.

“I think a lot of us were very excited about him, that he could do that if called upon,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said on Wednesday. “He’s the same guy we saw at Georgia. You guys have seen him. He’s got excellent size, excellent power. He’s very hard to move off the spot. He made a lot of plays this camp where he held the point and was able to get across the guy’s face to make plays on the ball.”

Winner: The Cornerbacks

If diamonds are a girl’s best friend, a pass rush is a cornerback’s best friend. The Packers finished with the eighth-most sacks last season but the seventh-lowest pass-rush win rate, according to ESPN.

The Packers will play a bunch of high-profile quarterbacks, including Jared Goff, Jayden Daniels, Dak Prescott and Joe Burrow in the first five games. Will Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs and Javon Bullard be up to the task? Who knows, but a strong pass rush would help. With the addition of Parsons, the Packers might have an elite pass rush.

Loser: Run Defense

The Packers’ run defense had been terrible under coach Matt LaFleur. From 2019 through 2023, the first five seasons of his tenure, Green Bay allowed a league-worst 4.66 yards per carry. In 2024, the Packers ranked third with 3.96 yards allowed per carry.

In free agency, they lost TJ Slaton to the Bengals in free agency. In the trade, they lost Kenny Clark to the Cowboys. The team’s best run-stopping defensive tackles both started all 17 games last season. The five remaining defensive tackles have started a combined six games: five by Devonte Wyatt and one by Colby Wooden.

Green Bay’s defensive ends – Parsons included – will stop the run. Will Wyatt and the rest of the defensive tackles prevent opponents from just running it up the gut 30 times a game?

Loser: Brenton Cox, Barryn Sorrell, Collin Oliver

The Packers have a surplus of defensive ends. It will be interesting to see how Jeff Hafley will deploy his personnel. On passing downs, it’ll be easy. Gary and Parsons will be the ends and Lukas Van Ness will move to defensive tackle. On running downs, once Parsons is acclimated, the Packers presumably will go with Gary and Parsons with the first unit and Kingsley Enagbare and Van Ness with the second unit.

What does that mean for Brenton Cox, who had a strong training camp, and rookies Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver when they’re healthy? A lot of time on the bench, unless there’s another trade.

Loser: Russ Ball

Russ Ball is in charge of putting contracts together and keeping a healthy salary cap. Having successfully navigated the Packers through the challenges of the post-Aaron Rodgers era, the team was in decent shape for the next wave of challenges as their young core of players got closer to second contracts.

Well, so much for Ball getting a chance to exhale. Jordan Love is one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL. Micah Parsons became the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL. Zach Tom got a huge contract extension. Aaron Banks got a huge contract in free agency. Xavier McKinney’s cap number will soar past $19 million next season.

Looks like it’ll be time for Ball to grab the steel-toed boots and start kicking the salary-cap can down the road, because his job just got a lot more difficult.

Loser: Future Free Agents

That leads into this one. It’s going to be impossible to keep this young and talented team together.

Here are the key free agents for the upcoming offseason (listed by percentage of playing time), which includes the 2022 draft class: Rasheed Walker, Sean Rhyan, Quay Walker, Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Kingsley Enagbare, Malik Willis.

Here are the key players for the following season (listed by playing time again), which includes the 2023 draft class: Elgton Jenkins, Keisean Nixon, Tucker Kraft, Isaiah McDuffie, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, Carrington Valentine, Karl Brooks, Lukas Van Ness, Devonte Wyatt, Colby Wooden, Luke Musgrave.

You can’t pay everyone. That’s going to be especially true for the Packers. Even if you deem most of those players expendable, someone’s got to play those snaps. And now the Packers will have fewer draft picks and almost no cap dollars to replace them.