The Green Bay Packers will open the season without their best pass rusher.
Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon appears determined to make quarterbacks wonder where the next one is coming from.
With Micah Parsons still rehabbing the knee injury that ended his 2025 season, Green Bay’s new defensive coordinator has thrown a wide range of pressure looks at the offense during training camp.
Extra rushers have come through the middle, off the slot and even from outside corner during practices, per Packers.com.
Quarterback Jordan Love said Gannon has been giving the offense “a lot of different pressures” to diagnose and sort out in protection.
Friday’s Family Night offered an straight look at what could be coming, and the early blueprint gives the Packers a way to create confusion while Parsons works toward his return.
Gannon Has Been Sending Pressure From Everywhere
GettyGLENDALE, ARIZONA – OCTOBER 19: Head coach Jonathan Gannon of the Arizona Cardinals and head coach Matt Lafleur of the Green Bay Packers talk before a game at State Farm Stadium on October 19, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
Gannon made it clear when he arrived that his defense would be built around the players available to him.
“It really is the truth when I tell you guys this is going to be a new system this year,” Gannon said in May.
The first weeks of camp have begun to show what he meant.
An Acme Packing Company breakdown of Family Night identified five defensive looks Green Bay has already installed: a base 3-4, traditional nickel, a Cheetah package, Mug nickel and a three-safety Penny front.
The personnel movement within those fronts may matter most while Parsons is unavailable.
In the Penny package, Edgerrin Cooper lined up on the edge rather than leaving the field for another defensive back. The Mug front walked the off-ball linebackers up to the line, forcing the offense to account for the possibility of an all-out blitz.
The Cheetah package gave Green Bay another option. Lukas Van Ness moved inside on passing downs, opening up room for more speed across the front.
Gannon also has the secondary to keep moving pieces around. He said the skill sets of Xavier McKinney, Evan Williams and Javon Bullard give Green Bay players who can cover, tackle, match receivers and blitz.
He wants to “put pressure on the offense as much as we can,” according to Packers.com.
Packers Need a Bridge Until Parsons Returns
GettyGREEN BAY, WISCONSIN – NOVEMBER 23: Micah Parsons #1 of the Green Bay Packers celebrates after beating the Minnesota Vikings 23-6 at Lambeau Field on November 23, 2025 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
There’s no smooth-sailing replacement for Parsons.
He finished his first season in Green Bay with 12.5 sacks, 26 quarterback hits and an NFL-high 83 pressures despite suffering his season-ending injury in December.
His absence was felt immediately.
The Packers were 9-3-1 when Parsons injured his knee against Denver and didn’t win another game, eventually losing to Chicago in the wild-card round. Parsons acknowledged in June that he expects to miss games at the beginning of the 2026 season.
Some optimism exists around his timetable.
Parsons said last week that returning for Green Bay’s Week 6 matchup against his former team, the Dallas Cowboys, is “very realistic,” though neither he nor the organization has set a firm return date.
His surgery included an ACL reconstruction and meniscus repair. Nine months from the procedure would put him around late September before accounting for his return to football activity.
That leaves Gannon with at least the opening portion of the schedule to solve.
Parsons eventually gives him a player capable of creating pressure without much help.
Until then, Green Bay’s early camp work suggests the answer could come from several players — and several different directions.
Packers Reveal Aggressive Defensive Plan With Micah Parsons Sidelined