After a disappointing exit in the first round of the 2025 playoffs, Packers fans quickly drafted up their yearly offseason acquisition wish list. Maxx Crosby, Tee Higgins, or Myles Garrett… Yeah, right.
These were some of the top candidates potentially available who could take Green Bay over the top, and to no one’s surprise, they are all still with their respective teams. It is just a fun game Cheesehead’s like to play every year, even though they know they are living in a false reality.
The Packers would never swing a trade for a player that they would have to turn around and pay top of the market dollar, especially if that meant parting ways with highly valuable draft capital. The city knew that, but it is still fun to dream a little.
The team has been a piece or two away ever since Aaron Rodgers captained the offense, and that is exactly how old management liked it. In the hunt every year, and potentially a title contender, but never mortgaging too much of the future. That was the way when Mark Murphy was president, and while wildly successful from a divisional standpoint, it only resulted in one Super Bowl appearance.
As the 2025 NFL Draft approached in Green Bay, Matthew Golden was a name linked to the Packers. The speedster had posted the fastest 40-yard dash (4.29) amongst all incoming offensive players, and flashed signs of being a future star during the College Football Playoff at Texas. While he was precisely what Green Bay needed, there was no way they would actually take him.
The franchise had not drafted a wide receiver in the first round in 23 years, so the expectations amongst the fan base that Golden would be a Packer were close to zero.
On draft night, Mark Murphy walked out to the stage to deliver one last gift to Green Bay, before handing over the CEO and president position to Ed Policy.
“With the 23rd pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the 13-time world champion Green Bay Packers, for the first time since the 2002 draft, select a wide receiver, Matthew Golden, Texas,” Murphy announced to the 600,000 fans in attendance.
The crowd erupted, minds were blown, and Green Bay officially entered a new era of Packers football.
Even though it was just a draft pick, the selection was a culture-shifting move. It signaled that change was coming in Titletown, and it has become abundantly clear that change is a direct result of Policy taking over as the man in charge.
Nearly four and a half months later, a week before the NFL season was set to begin, word had started to spread that the standoff between Micah Parsons and Jerry Jones might have reached a breaking point.
Thanks to need, draft capital, and cap space, the Packers emerged in the shadows as the leading candidate to acquire Parsons’ services, and for the first time, it did not feel like a pipe dream.
The thought at first was that maybe Jones was doing some last-minute posturing before ultimately offering his best player a massive extension, but something felt different.
Jordan Love shares an agent with Parsons and had joked about teaming up on a recent podcast. Kay Adams was stirring the pot, throwing the hypothetical trade into any and every interview she could with Packers players. A mystery source on X that had been predicting every move of the offseason, “Rickey the dog”, was even the first to break the news that an offer was on the table from Green Bay for Parsons.
Two first-round picks, Kenny Clark, and $188 million later, Micah Parsons was a Packer.
It is an odds-shifting move that catapults Green Bay into the upper echelon of title contenders.
“This is a very unique player that rarely becomes available to us. There are not a lot of these players that become available, where their best football is ahead of them, and every opportunity that we have to improve our football team now and in the future, we are certainly going to take a look at. We were just fortunate enough that we were able to get it across the finish line,” said general manager Brian Gutekunst.
Parsons is a two-time First Team All-Pro and has recorded at least 12 sacks in each of his four NFL seasons. He becomes the highest-paid defensive player in league history, and he will likely be well worth every penny. Players like Micah Parsons do not grow on trees, and when given the chance to have them on your team, you do not waste the opportunity.
“I never thought I would be traded, but that is the harsh reality,” said Parsons. “Everything happens for a reason. I am going to work hard every day to prove that the Packers organization made the right decision in trusting me, and I am going to carry that with me.”
The most questionable part of Green Bay’s game heading into the season was going to be its ability to stop the pass. Their cornerback room is not a strong suit, and Rashan Gary, who had 7.5 sacks last year, was the only proven pass rusher on the roster. Parsons changes all of that.
At his best, there is no player more feared in the league when it comes to pressuring the quarterback. Teams will have to game plan around Parsons and constantly send extra attention his way on passing downs. He will make everyone’s job around him exponentially easier, especially the defensive backs and other pass rushers.
This move is an absolute home run for the Packers and a head-scratcher for the Cowboys. It caps off the most surprising and groundbreaking offseason in Green Bay history, and points to big things to come not only for the 2025-26 season, but also beyond.
Featured Image: Micah Parsons before he was traded to the Green Bay Packers. Photo credit: Mark Hammond / News4usonline
Benjamin Verbrugge is a reporter for News4usonline who studied journalism at CSU Dominguez Hills. “Sports have brought me much joy throughout my life, and I want to give a little back to something that has meant so much to me.” Email Benjamin at benverbrugge8@gmail.com.
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