How Jonathan Gannon built a Top-5 Packers defense without Micah Parsons

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How Jonathan Gannon built a Top-5 Packers defense without Micah Parsons

Doug Farrar · SB Nation

Thu, November 5, 2026 at 7:02 PM UTC ·

7 min read

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If you're reading this, you obviously know that on Aug. 28, 2025, the Green Bay Packers traded defensive tackle Kenny Clark, and first-round picks in 2026 and 2027, to the Dallas Cowboys for the services of transcendent edge-rusher Micah Parsons. And when the 2025 season began, it appeared to foster a major improvement in Jeff Hafley's defense. In the first half of the 2025 season, Green Bay's defense ranked 10th in DVOA and Parsons was on a tear. Through Week 15 of the 2025 season, he totaled 14 sacks and 79 pressures, looking every bit the force he had been with Dallas.

Then, in Week 15 against the Denver Broncos, Parsons suffered a torn ACL, and things quickly fell apart for the Pack on Parsons' side of the ball — and overall. The previously 9-3-1 Pack lost every game from then on, and their season ended abruptly with a 31-27 Wild Card playoff loss to the Chicago Bears.

There wasn't enough juice without their defensive epicenter to get things done. The Packers fell to 25th in Defensive DVOA in the second half of the season, and a primary reason was pretty clear.

With Parsons on the field (669 snaps):

4.87 yards allowed per play
EPA/play allowed: -0.048 (favorable for the defense)
Pass defense: 367 attempts, 6.29 yards per attempt allowed
Run defense: 273 attempts, 4.13 yards per carry allowed
29 sacks, 6 interceptions

Without Parsons on the field (469 snaps):

5.31 yards allowed per play
EPA/play allowed: +0.09 (unfavorable for the defense)
Pass defense: 230 attempts, 6.82 yards per attempt allowed
Run defense: 231 attempts, 4.18 yards per carry allowed
8 sacks, 3 interceptions

"We just need to get healthy," Parsons told me on September 16 , three days after the Packers lost their season opener to the Minnesota Vikings, 39-22. "I think once we get healthy, and I'm back on that grass or that turf, we're going to take it to another level."

Thing is, new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon couldn't wait around for Parsons to get healthy. The hope was that he'd be ready by Green Bay's Week 6 game against the Cowboys, but that didn't happen. Gannon had to do the best he could with what he had. And the extent to which he's done that is one of the NFL's most impressive stories in the 2026 season.

The Packers currently rank fourth in Defensive DVOA , and Gannon's concepts have been profoundly unsettling to their opponents.

So, how is Gannon doing so well in a new environment, with players he didn't know last season? Everything is working at all three levels.

Creative pressures help everybody get to the quarterback

GREEN BAY, WI - OCTOBER 29: Lukas Van Ness #90 of the Green Bay Packers lines up before the snap during an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field on October 29, 2026 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) | Getty Images

As you would expect, Gannon is blitzing at a pretty high rate (31.9% this season, 12th-highest in the NFL) to maximize pressure, but Green Bay's pressure rate of 38.7% is only 18th-highest, per SumerSports. Lukas Van Ness leads the team with five sacks and 28 total pressures. Rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton is second with four sacks, and fellow edge-rusher Brenton Cox Jr. is second with 22 pressures. This isn't a Murderer's Row in that regard, but the ways in which Gannon has used his guys up front give those guys an edge.

It's also one reason the Packers have been so effective when they don't blitz.

Per SumerSports:

	Dropbacks	Pass Att	Comp	Comp %	Pass Yds	Yds/Att	TD	INT	Sacks	Sack Rate %	Scrambles	Pressure Rate %	Passer Rating	EPA per Dropback
Blitz	103	92	54	58.7	514	5.59	3	3	6	5.8	5	43.7	71.6	-0.2
No blitz	220	192	127	66.1	1253	6.53	7	7	16	7.3	12	36.4	81.4	-0.059

So, how do you generate effective pressure when your pressure rate isn't that high? In Gannon's case, he's been marvelous with his simulated pressure designs. Showing a blitz look and then having supposed blitzers drop into coverage can create mental pressure for a quarterback when you do it right, and the Packers have done it right more often than not.

Now, imagine Parsons as part of all this skullduggery.

The (backup) linebackers can do a bit of everything

GREEN BAY, WI - OCTOBER 29: Ty'Ron Hopper #59 of the Green Bay Packers celebrates during an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field on October 29, 2026 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Gannon thought that he'd have linebackers Edgerrin Cooper (season-ending ruptured Achilles tendon) and Zaire Franklin (hairline shin fracture) full-go, but things happen. Now, Isaiah McDuffie and Ty'Ron Hopper are the primary 'backers, and Hopper has been a revelation. He made NFC Secret Superstars for Week 8 after a 27-19 win over the Carolina Panthers in which he totaled one sack, four pressures, six solo tackles, three pass breakups, and an interception. Hopper became the first Packers player since Hall of Famer Charles Woodson in 2009 to record three pass breakups, a sack, and an interception in the same game.

Anytime you can put yourself in the same conversation as Charles Woodson, that's obviously a good thing.

When Gannon runs all of those sim pressures, he needs linebackers who can both threaten pressure and drop into credible coverage. Hopper certainly has it on the ball, and McDuffie has been an effective starter of late.

"Ty'Ron Hopper. I can't say enough great things about him," Matt LaFleur said after the Panthers game. "The night he had. I think, what? Sack, PBU, interception? What a great performance. I think that's something that we did see coming more so in the preseason. I can't say enough about the job that obviously [linebackers coach] Sam Siefkes does with our inside linebackers to get them ready, and I just see a lot of growth from that group. They're playing really well."

They are, and they jibe with the secondary very well.

Evan Williams leads a young, smart defensive backfield

EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - NOVEMBER 16: Evan Williams #33 of the Green Bay Packers celebrates after an NFL football game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on November 16, 2025 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Safety Evan Williams made Secret Superstars following Green Bay's 23-13 Week 6 win over the Cowboys — the one Micah Parsons wasn't ready for, unfortunately — and that was a game in which Williams, the 2024 fourth-rounder out of Oregon, really put his name out there nationally as one of the NFL's better players at his position(s). This season, Williams has a sack, nine pressures, 49 solo tackles, 13 stops, and two tackles for loss. In coverage, he's allowed 11 catches on 20 targets for 79 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 41.5.

That's all great, but where Williams really shows up in Gannon's defense is how well he plays to all three levels of the defense. Whether he's starting at the line of scrimmage and backing up to the deep half in coverage, or running the opposite by coming down for a pressure or a run fit, or maintaining the LOS integrity from the box, there isn't much Williams can't do right now.

And when you have one of those players, it allows you to be as multiple as you'd like without the breakdowns you see on defenses where the personnel doesn't quite measure up.

"He's intelligent… I love how Matt says it, 'if you wanna play like a G, you have to prepare like a G', and he studies and when you study the way he does, he knows what's going on," Gannon said of Williams in late October . "Nothing is catching him by surprise… He's playing very well right now."

And now, with all that said… here comes No. 1.

We all know how potentially explosive LaFleur's offense can be, but it's past time to recognize that as the 5-3 Packers progress through the rest of the season, it's the defense that has an equivalent (at least) amount to say regarding how far the team will go.

That's very good news, because Jonathan Gannon has proven to be quite the "G" himself.

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