Micah Parsons trade overshadows positive Jordan Love news for Packers

It's the trade everyone wants to talk about, and for good reason. The Green Bay Packers pulled off a rare blockbuster trade, perhaps one of the biggest moves in the franchise's storied history.

Superstar pass-rusher Micah Parsons is now a Packer. Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst traded two first round picks and long-time defensive tackle Kenny Clark to the Dallas Cowboys for Parsons, and then immediately gave him a four-year, $188M contract extension.

That's seismic NFL news and it overshadowed another positive moment for Green Bay on Thursday, albeit a much smaller one.

Before the trade, and while speaking to reporters, quarterback Jordan Love revealed that his surgically repaired left thumb is feeling good.

He said he has "no concerns" heading into Week 1's massive matchup with the Detroit Lions, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.

He'll have to wear a brace, but keep in mind, the brace will be on his non-throwing arm. 

"It'll be some weeks having to brace it up and just keep it protected," Love said. "It's one of those things, we'll play it by ear, as I start getting into games and seeing how it feels, as you get back to live contact. But there'll be some time having that brace still."

While the Parsons trade will absolutely impact Green Bay's 2025 season, this update from Love is arguably just as important.

Love showed at the end of the 2023 season that he has the capability to be an elite quarterback. He was injured for much of 2024, though, and his numbers and overall efficiency dipped as a result.

No team wants to hear about its quarterback going under the knife just weeks before a season begins, but it sounds as if the decision was made in order to give Love the best chance to be as close to 100% as possible when things kick-off against the Lions on Sept. 7.

It also sounds like he was dealing with a legitimate problem with his left thumb.

"If you have no stability there, you have no strength as well," Love explained. "So it was pretty much just a limp thumb. I couldn't really do much with it, and it's just something that I wasn't, before the season, I'm not trying to be dealing with that throughout the course of the season. Who knows if that would have kept getting reinjured, kept getting messed up, and who knows how that would have been going through a whole season? So I think, and the doctors' opinion was, just go ahead and get the surgery knocked out and try to get back to as 100% as possible for the season."

The Packers now have what appears to be an elite defense with the addition of Parsons. Despite trading away Clark in the deal, they've added him to a unit that features stars like safety Xavier McKinney, defensive end Rashan Gary and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper.

If Love can remain healthy, there's a real chance the Packers' offense will be elite as well. 

That's got to be a scary proposition for the rest of the NFC.