One year of Micah Parsons in Green Bay: We'd do it all over again

If you are a Green Bay Packers fan, you remember exactly where you were when the news broke.

I had just gotten into the car to drive to work. I was about a block away from my home when I heard a notification come in. It was a Twitter alert, and it was a couple of lines of just exclamation points. I knew instantly what it meant.

It's about a 20-25 minute commute for me, along the I-25 that runs north and south through Denver. It's constantly a mess, with stop-and-go traffic, angry drivers, and worse. Did I engage in a bit of dangerous driving that day? You bet I did. I texted everyone I knew or had ever met before in my life.

I couldn't wait to see a friend at work who is a Dallas Cowboys fan. I called my fiancée, even though they had no real context for what I was talking about. I had to share the news: Micah Parsons was a Green Bay Packer.

It's now an entire year after that fateful day, and although the first year did not end the way anyone was hoping it would, I think every Packers fan in the world would gladly make that trade again.

The price for the trade: two first-round picks and longtime Packer Kenny Clark (who was the last remaining Ted Thompson pick on the roster; isn't it so appropriate that Ted got to have his impact on this, so many years later?).

Two years without a first-round pick certainly stings a bit (especially to someone who loves the draft biz as much as I do), but even if you hit on those two guys, they don't come close to the instant impact that Micah Parsons has on every single play.

Micah Parsons had an immediate and massive impact

It's fateful that the trade was pulled off when it was: after the preseason games and training camps had been concluded. There was just something so magical about Micah's first appearance being in a real game. It really felt like the Packers had pulled off the impossible, that this season was going to be special. Just listen to the crowd react to his first tunnel introduction:

Parsons wasted no time introducing himself properly to the Packers faithful. On the Packers' first defensive drive of the day, they had gotten the Detroit Lions to a 3rd-and-7, and who else but No. 1 comes running onto the field to sub for Rashan Gary?

Parsons caused immediate pressure by beating Penei Sewell on an inside move to force the incompletion. And then later in the game, his first sack as a Packer was nothing short of a lion hunting his prey.

Of course, that was only the taste. Over the course of the season, Parsons would accumulate 12.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, 14 QB hits, 79 pressures, and 51 QB hurries. According to PFF, Parsons won 22.6 percent of his rushes and was the second-highest-graded pass rusher in the league (behind only Myles Garrett).

Micah Parsons kept the Packers alive and won games by himself

But the numbers only go so far in telling the story. Over and over, Parsons made clutch plays. So much so that at the end of the season last year, the team started playing walk-on music for him in the fourth quarter, like a relief pitcher!

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Against his former team in Dallas, Parsons sacked Dak Prescott from behind to save a touchdown run that would have won them the game. A sack and a forced fumble in the fourth against the New York Giants. A run stuff on fourth down against the Lions on Thanksgiving.

But to me, the real game that opened our eyes to his impact happened against the Arizona Cardinals. Parsons single-handedly won the game. He had a career-high three sacks that day.

One came on 3rd-and-goal in the first quarter. Then another 3rd-and-goal sack, this time in the fourth quarter, with the game tied at 20. Then finally, with 30 seconds left in the game and the Packers holding a 27-23 lead, Parsons got home again, eventually leading to a Packers win.

That was when it hit, that this is what the Packers added to the team.

We all know how this story turns out, so I won't rehash the memories of that fateful day in Denver (a game I was unfortunately in attendance for). The result robbed Green Bay of a season that was finally building momentum and the chance to see it all come together in the postseason. I'm extremely confident that, had Micah's injury not happened, that playoff game would have been played in Lambeau, with an entirely different result.

But it also just sucks for us right now. I would have loved to have seen Micah in training camp, riding the bikes and practicing with everyone else. He's such a special player, and it almost feels like we, as a fanbase, need to enjoy every moment with the future Hall of Famer that we can get.

Fortunately, we're closer to his return now, though the exact date is still a mystery. I'm just as excited to see what he can do this year as I was last year. And if that trade happened again today, you can bet I'd be out there furiously texting everyone I know all over again.

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