On Thursday, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was asked if defensive end Micah Parsons would be on a snap count in Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns. His response: “We’ll see.”
In truth, though, Parsons was probably already done with any snap count restriction against the Washington Commanders in Week 2, whether LaFleur wants to admit that to the press or not.
While Parsons only played one snap in the first quarter of Week 1, he played 68 percent of the defense’s snaps in Week 2. While that
might not seem like a full share for a starting defensive end in the NFL, it very much is.
For example, let’s look at Rashan Gary’s season-long snap counts since he entered the league in 2019. Gary has played more than 68 percent of defensive snaps in games that he was active for only once in his career: 2022, when he played 70 percent of defensive snaps over nine games, the same year he tore his ACL in early November.
So, based on Week 2, Parsons is already outplaying the usual expectation for Gary. Last week, Parsons played 44 defensive snaps to Gary’s 41. Yet no one is asking when Gary is going to come off a snap count.
Among players who lined up at least 50 percent of the time in an edge alignment, per NFL Pro, Parsons was among the top-30 most-played edge defenders in Week 2 in total snaps and ranked 25th in overall snaps on the edge exclusively. For added perspective, Gary, who started all 17 games last regular season, finished 30th in the NFL in edge alignment snaps played.
Green Bay rotates its edge defenders heavily, and has done so since the Dom Capers days, so don’t expect some huge jump in snaps played for Parsons down the line. When will the snap count restrictions end? We’re already there.
