A former Pro Bowl pass rusher seems to be teasing his interest in returning to the Green Bay Packers following a major injury to superstar Micah Parsons.
Parsons went down with a non-contact injury in his left knee in the third quarter of Week 15’s loss to the Denver Broncos and seemed to instantly recognize it was severe, turning to the Packers’ sideline while trainers worked on him and mouthing, “I’m out.”
In the postgame, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur had no reassurance to offer about Parsons’ condition, saying only that it “doesn’t look good” and “I’ll leave it at that.” ESPN’s Rob Demovsky later reported that the initial belief is Parsons tore the ACL in his left knee — which, if confirmed, would sideline him for the rest of the 2025 season.
Within minutes of LaFleur’s comments, though, veteran pass rusher Za’Darius Smith seemed to drop a hint about a potential reunion in the form of an eyeball-emoji post.
Smith made the Pro Bowl in back-to-back seasons for the Packers in 2019 and 2020, registering 26 sacks and 107 total tackles in 32 starts and dominating as the top pass rusher on a defense that competed in two consecutive NFC championship games. He ended up losing his roster spot in 2023 due to injury troubles and a rising cap hit.
Since his departure, Smith has delivered a 10-sack season for the Minnesota Vikings in 2022 and tallied nine more sacks between stops in Cleveland and Detroit in 2024.
Even if Smith did appeal to the Packers, though — and that’s a big if — he is currently retired after abruptly walking out on the Philadelphia Eagles in October. He would need to unretire and persuade the Eagles to release him before he could sign anywhere else.
Packers Fans Weren’t Receptive to Za’Darius Smith
While NFL players sending out eyeball emojis on social media can mean many things — and, sometimes, nothing at all — some Packers fans seemed to be picking up what Smith was putting down with his message and were less than enthused about the idea.
“We don’t want you,” one Packers fan replied to Smith’s post.
“Nah. You burned those bridges,” another responded.
Smith had a dominant two-season stretch for the Packers, but things also ended a little dramatically due to how things played out in 2021 with the back tightness that he began to experience in training camp. The back issue nagged Smith all season, keeping him off the field for all but 18 snaps despite the Packers’ expressed hopes that he would return.
After the season, the Packers unceremoniously released Smith for salary-cap relief, but Smith later alleged in an interview with NFL writer Tyler Dunne for “Go Long” that the team began to treat him poorly after he injured his back. He even said it was one of the reasons why he decided to sign with another team in the division — to get revenge.
“Walking past me, not saying nothing. ‘Z, how’s your back doing?’– there was none of that,” Smith told Dunne in 2022 about the Packers. “As you can see, that adds on to why I’m on the other side. So, I can go back. I get to go back two times a year.”
Maybe the Packers would be willing to let bygones be bygones if Smith orchestrated his release from the Eagles, but it is likely a long shot that they would even consider him.
How Will Packers Attempt to Replace Micah Parsons?
The Packers won’t be able to replace Parsons, at least not entirely. There is a reason why they traded two first-round picks and one of their veteran captains for him and turned around to sign him to a $186 million contract extension: he is one of the league’s elites.
What exactly will be Green Bay’s Plan B, though?
One likely answer is Lukas Van Ness. The 2023 first-round pick has not lived up to his draft position over his first few seasons with the Packers, which is one of the reasons why they felt they needed to make a blockbuster deal for Parsons in late August. He also just returned from a foot injury that had held him out for the most part since Week 6.
Even still, Van Ness showed signs of improvement as a pass rusher before his injury and could seize the opportunity to become the player the Packers once hoped he could be now that there is a Micah Parsons-sized hole on one side of their defensive line.
The Packers are also likely to return defensive end Brenton Cox Jr. to the mix ahead of Week 16’s game against the Chicago Bears. He is entering the third week of his 21-day activation window to return from injured reserve and has participated in six straight practices, upgrading to full participation for December 12’s final practice of Week 15.
Between Kingsley Enagbare, Van Ness and Cox, the Packers will have to hope they can find some solution to help their pass rusher opposite veteran starter Rashan Gary.
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