Micah Parsons makes no guarantee about playing return after Packers open his practice window

Star pass-rusher Micah Parsons took a significant step toward making his regular-season debut when the Green Bay Packers opened his 21-day window to practice on Wednesday.  

Parsons has spent the ongoing campaign working to recover from the torn ACL he suffered in December of last year. Recent reports have indicated that he is on track to play in Green Bay's Thanksgiving Eve game at the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 25. 

However, he made no promises when he spoke with reporters on Wednesday.

Micah Parsons won't "pinpoint a day" for his in-game return

"My family even been asking me, 'You going to play? Should we buy flights to come out there?' And I'm telling them, 'I still got two weeks of practice...Hey we just gotta pay for last-minute flights. It is what it is. You can buy your flight and cancel last minute, that's up to you, but I'm not going to pinpoint a day to disappoint anyone or get people expectations that I can't meet.' I gotta stack 20 days, and hopefully on that 21st day I feel incredible," Parsons explained, per Rob Demovsky of ESPN. 

Parsons isn't expected to play in the Packers' game at the 5-3 New England Patriots this coming Sunday or in the matchup versus the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 15. As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had 5-3 Green Bay as a 3.5-point road underdog against New England. 

Green Bay will enter its bye following the Minnesota game.

Micah Parsons shares concerning revelation about conditioning

Parsons acknowledged that his conditioning is "probably the worst it's been in my career" at this point of the season. 

"First, it's just understanding that I gotta get into more of a football shape, integrating into snaps and reps over these next 21 days, and then just feel like we're at a really good spot where they're willing to just let me go," Parsons continued.

Over the first 14 games of his Packers tenure, Parsons tallied 12.5 sacks before he went down with his injury. As for the Packers, they could make a big-name acquisition before the NFL trade deadline arrives at 4:00 p.m. ET on Nov. 10 if general manager Brian Gutekunst believes that the current version of Parsons can help Green Bay go on a deep playoff run this coming winter.

"Am I going to be the All-Pro Micah, the person I once was this year? Probably not until later, after I go through all my phases and things like that, but I think what people will see is they're going to see, 'This guy's ready to play football and he's going to play hard, and he's going to help boost this defense, which is already doing a great job,'" Parsons added. "I think you'll see flashes of All-Pro Micah when I get to pass rush, and there's going to be times when you're going to be like, 'Dang, what was Micah doing?' There's going to be times when I question myself, too. Like, what was I doing right there? I'm not ashamed of that. I'm not afraid of seeing the failure because I just came back from an 11-month injury."