On Thursday morning, the Associated Press announced the finalists for eight of the top awards that will be presented at the NFL Honors ceremony in San Francisco on February 5.
Of the eight categories, six of which revolve around players and two that are reserved for coaches, only one member of the Green Bay Packers organization was included. And to the surprise of absolutely nobody, that one member is edge rusher Micah Parsons, who was named one of the five finalists for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
- Will Anderson Jr., Houston Texans, DE
- Nik Bonitto, Denver Broncos, LB
- Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns, DE
- Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit Lions, DE
- Micah Parsons, Green Bay Packers, DE
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— Green Bay Packers (@packers) January 22, 2026
Micah Parsons has been named a finalist for AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year pic.twitter.com/89BtOEGJIV
Garrett is basically a lock to win the award for the second time in three seasons after setting the NFL's new single-season record with 23.0 sacks, but Parsons, who recently earned the third First-Team All-Pro selection of his five-year career despite missing the final three games of the regular season after suffering a torn ACL during the Packers' Week 15 loss to the Denver Broncos, undoubtedly deserves his spot among the final five.
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In 14 appearances for Green Bay during the 2025 regular season, the former Dallas Cowboy (thanks again, Jerry Jones) racked up tallied 41 tackles, 12.5 sacks, thus becoming the first player in NFL history with at least 12 sacks in each of his first five seasons, 26 quarterback hits, and 83 pressures.
Parsons' presence on the Packers' defense was obviously invaluable, as he accounted for 34.7 percent of the team's sacks and 24.9 percent of the pressures. And one has to assume that those figures only would have gone up had he not gotten hurt. After all, following the aforementioned loss to the Broncos, he'd accounted for 37.9 percent of the sacks and 29.9 percent of the pressures.
It's also interesting to note that Rashan Gary, who had 7.5 sacks on the season, didn't record a single one after Parsons' injury. And over their final four games of the season, all of which resulted in losses, the Packers as a whole had zero sacks in Week 16 against the Chicago Bears, one in Week 17 against the Baltimore Ravens, two in the meaningless Week 18 matchup with the Vikings, and one in the Wild Card Round in the rubber match with the Bears. So, if this were an award that genuinely went to the most valuable defensive player, Parsons might have a real shot.
Instead, however, he's simply going to come up short yet again. While still with the Cowboys, Parsons finished second in the DPOY voting as a rookie in 2021, second again in 2022, and third in 2023.