The Green Bay Packers will be scrambling for answers as a pass rush unit without Micah Parsons in the fold early this season.

With their star rusher presumably out for the first handful of games, the team will lean heavily on veteran Lukas Van Ness and a handful of other young options in the interim.

Parsons was rumored to make a return in October after an ACL tear suffered last season, and now we're starting to work towards a more definitive timeline.

Get our free mobile app

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Parsons indicated that he thinks he has a good chance of playing as soon as Week 6 against his former team:

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- For a guy who said he's not into timelines but rather coming back as strong as possible, Micah Parsons sounded optimistic about one thing: He likes his chances of playing in the Green Bay Packers' Week 6 game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field.

"I think it's very realistic," Parsons said Tuesday.

He acknowledged, however, that there's still work to be done in his rehab from last year's torn ACL/meniscus injury sustained in Week 15.

"I wouldn't say it's not possible, but, at the same time, in these next 10 weeks -- 10, 12 weeks from now on -- we've got to do our part to make it possible," Parsons said in his first session with reporters since training camp opened last week. "It's not off the board, but we've got to put the work in."

Parsons opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list and likely will remain with that designation when the regular season opens. That means he would miss at least the first four games of the season. However, a change in the PUP rule now allows players to begin practicing after just two regular-season weeks. In the past, players could not do so for the first four weeks of the season.

Given that the Packers rarely allow players coming off ACL injuries to practice earlier than nine months after surgery, Parsons isn't likely to practice until late September. The Packers play the Chicago Bears in Week 5 (Oct. 4), followed by the Cowboys (Oct. 11).

The Packers were 9-3-1 when Parsons went down against the Denver Broncos, and they didn't win another game the rest of the way. Parsons had 12.5 sacks and, according to ESPN Analytics, led the NFL with 64 quarterback pressures despite missing the final three games.

"I think when you come out of these situations, you're either going to be better or you're worse," Parsons said. "And for me, I've done everything I possibly can to be better."

That's why Parsons said he has concentrated more on the kind of player he will be not how soon he can play.

"People are worried about the knee; they should be worried about how I'm going to play when I get back," Parsons said. "The anger, the frustration, the things that I'm going to have to let out because of how long it's been since I played.

"So I think that's what people should really worry about. Like, how great is Micah going to be when he gets back? Not about when I get back, because that's the short term. It's about how great I'm going to be, how I can help my teammates, and how far we're going to go into a playoff run."

Source: Packers' Micah Parsons: Playing vs. Cowboys in Week 6 'realistic' - ESPN