Micah Parsons Gets Good News Ahead of Packers, Steelers Showdown
The Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers will square off on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 8, and superstar Micah Parsons‘ spirits should be high given the circumstances.
Not only is the edge rusher coming off perhaps the best game of his NFL tenure — in which he tallied five quarterback hits, four tackles for loss and a career-high three sacks — but he also avoided a financial penalty from the league for an illegal tackle he made against the Arizona Cardinals in that contest.
Packers DE Micah Parsons wasn’t fined for his hip drop tackle on Jacoby Brissett last week, but LB Quay Walker was fined $17,389 for hitting Brissett in the head on his roughing the passer penalty in the first quarter.
“Packers DE Micah Parsons wasn’t fined for his hip drop tackle on Jacoby Brissett last week, but LB Quay Walker was fined $17,389 for hitting Brissett in the head on his roughing the passer penalty in the first quarter,” Zach Kruse of The Packers Wire posted to X Sunday morning.
The typical fine for a hip drop tackle is exactly the amount that the league levied against Walker. The NFL hit Carolina Panthers outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum with a fine of $17,389 for a hip drop tackle he made during the second quarter of his team’s Week 7 game against the New York Jets, characterizing the play as “unnecessary roughness.”
Precisely why the league chose not to fine Parsons is unclear, as referees did throw a flag on the play in real time.
Entering Week 7, there had been nine hip-drop tackles where players were fined no penalties called. However, Packers DE Micah Parsons was penalized for one last Sunday against the Cardinals, but there was no fine.
“Entering Week 7, there had been nine hip-drop tackles where players were fined [but] no penalties called,” Howard Balzer of CardsWire wrote on social media. “However, Packers DE Micah Parsons was penalized for one last Sunday against the Cardinals, but there was no fine.
Packers Favored to Beat Steelers, Hold on to Lead in NFC
GettyGreen Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons.
Whatever the league’s reasoning was, Parsons will head to Pittsburgh with his pocketbook in tact.
Green Bay (4-1-1) will attempt to hold onto its thin lead over six NFC teams, all with records of 5-2. The Packers’ tie against the Dallas Cowboys and the bye week Green Bay has already gone through have resulted in the team leading the conference based on a .750 winning percentage compared to a .714 mark for all the 5-2 squads.
The Packers opened as 3.5-point road favorites over the Steelers, though that line had dipped to 2.5 points as of Sunday morning, per ESPN BET.
Micah Parsons Will Square Off Against Former Packers QB Aaron Rodgers on ‘Sunday Night Football’
GettyPittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The biggest storyline heading into Sunday night will be Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers squaring off against his old team, for which he played 18 years, won four MVP awards and claimed a Super Bowl ring.
Rodgers made clear on Wednesday that he doesn’t view the matchup as an opportunity for revenge.
“I don’t have any animosity toward the organization,” Rodgers said, per Brook Pryor of ESPN. “Obviously, I wish that things had been better in our last year there, but I have a great relationship with a lot of people still in that organization, and this is not a revenge game for me. I’m just excited to see some of those guys and be on ‘Sunday Night Football’ again.”
Rodgers addressed the circumstances again later in the week.
“Damn near everything great in my life is because of my football career, and my football career started, and will end one day, with Green Bay,” Rodgers said. “So we got a lot of love for all of those memories and a lot of great friends that I still carry with me to this day.”
Steelers Predicted to Find Darius Slay Replacement
Getty
Pro Football Network's Ian Cummings projected the Pittsburgh Steelers to replace Darius Slay in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Pittsburgh Steelers secondary has been a significant disappointment through the first seven weeks of the 2025 NFL Draft. The team added veterans Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay over the offseason to help, but those two former All-Pros haven’t led to very different results.
Coming off arguably the secondary’s worst performance of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals, Pro Football Network’s Ian Cummings projected the Steelers to try and fix their secondary next offseason through the draft.
In his latest mock draft Saturday, Cummings predicted the Steelers to select Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy in the first round.
“Unexpected circumstances have positioned the Steelers as the favorites to win the AFC North and secure a postseason berth in 2025, but there’s still work to do before this team is a sustained contender year in and year out. Adding youth at CB is one such key,” wrote Cummings.
“Joey Porter Jr. has struggled at times, and Darius Slay is a short-term rental. In this 2026 NFL Mock Draft, I targeted a CB who resembles Slay: Jermod McCoy. McCoy hasn’t played in 2025, but his 2024 tape is elite and showcases his man-coverage prowess.”
The Steelers added Slay on a one-year, $10 million deal. Next year, the team could add McCoy to play opposite Porter on the outside. The Steelers could then still keep Ramsey as a versatile cornerback to split his time in the slot and outside.
Could Steelers Replace Darius Slay With First-Round CB?
Based on draft history, the likelihood the Steelers target a cornerback in the first round is slim. The organization has done that just once over the past 28 years.
That one time they did, things didn’t exactly go as planned. In 2016, the Steelers picked cornerback Artie Burns at No. 25 overall.
Draft pundits heavily criticized the team for the selection. The pundits were correct — Burns was a bust, as he started just 32 games in four seasons and didn’t receive a second contract.
The Steelers chose Joey Porter Jr. at No. 32 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. But technically, Porter was a second-round pick.
While Porter has produced mixed results, he’s at least proven to be worth starter. The Steelers, though, have tried to pair Porter with over-the-hill veterans the past couple years.
The 34-year-old Slay is the latest example.
Drafting a first-round cornerback would start a much-needed youth movement in Pittsburgh’s secondary. It could also potentially raise Porter’s play, as it could take some pressure off Pittsburgh’s current young cornerback.
CB Jermod McCoy Would Come With Risks
It’s relatively easy to argue the Steelers should draft a cornerback early in the 2026 NFL Draft. Predicting which one is the right fit for Mike Tomlin is much harder.
Cummings pegged McCoy to the Steelers. While the Tennessee cornerback is talented, he hasn’t played at all this season because of injury.
It’s possible he doesn’t return before the end of the year.
If that’s the case, an NFL team picking McCoy in the first round would be selecting a prospect who will be away from the field an entire season.
McCoy began his college career at Oregon State. He played his first season with the Volunteers last year. During 2024, he had 44 combined tackles with nine pass defenses and four interceptions.
