Steve Brownlee

Ho hum, it’s just another season starting in the NFL this week.

Oh wait, that’s right, the Green Bay Packers decided to turn the entire NFC North Division on its head exactly one week ago by trading for Dallas Cowboys’ defensive superstar Micah Parsons.

Sure, the Packers won’t have a first-round draft pick until 2028, but hey, if Parsons turns Green Bay into the juggernaut it’s hoped he will, those picks for the next two years will be comparable to an early second-round choice if the Packers really get the “luxury” of picking 32nd in the opening round because they’ve won back-to-back Super Bowls.

Apparently, there’s some downside to this trade, but sporting Parsons on the field — maybe Green Bay will dress him in a gold uniform when everyone else on the team is wearing a mostly-green outfit — sure has to warm the hearts of every Packer fan.

The supposed downside is that Green Bay is taking a $56 million cap hit this season in the trade, paying him $21 million and also absorbing $35 million in a cap hit for trading away All-Pro defensive back Kenny Clark.

From what I’m reading, Dallas doesn’t have to pay any part of Parsons’ salary this season, and only $2.3 million to Clark, with the Packers paying the rest — and taking a similar, if not equal, cap hit.

A Sporting News story I found online on Yahoo! Sports from Friday said that now the Packers only have $1.45 million in remaining cap space. I’ll be interested in seeing if some creative accounting can enlarge that amount. If that’s not possible, maybe that restriction will come into play if there are key injuries on either side of the ball at Lambeau Field.

But having lots of leftover cap room might just turn into what those timeouts do when you didn’t call them late in the first half — worthless — you know, use them or lose them.

The four-year, $188 million deal Parsons signed upon coming to Green Bay doesn’t even begin to take effect until 2026, and $136 million of it is guaranteed.

In some ways, it sounds a bit like the Deshaun Watson deal in Cleveland — remember he was the quarterback who had all those pending sexual assault allegations and was still able to draw $230 million in guaranteed money a few years ago from the Browns.

But really, there seem to be a lot of differences from the Watson circumstance. About the most egregious wrongs by Parsons is being outspoken on his podcasts, certainly not a crime of any kind, plus he plays the kind of game where a little injury might only make him leaner and even meaner.

Parsons is just 26 years old, so even in four years, he’ll still only be 30. And I get the feeling it’s a lot easier on the body inflicting pain as a defender than having it inflicted upon you as an offensive player.

He certainly addresses a need for the Packers — QB pressure, having made 52 1/2 sacks in his first four years, something unprecedented in league history if I’m remembering the breaking stories correctly.

Can you say Reggie White?

One key I’m also seeing is that Parsons supposedly doesn’t add anything to a rushing defense, I guess because he’s a bit undersized to take on that role.

But give the Packers’ team brass and coaching staff the ability to build the right pieces around Parsons so it becomes a stop-the-run-first defense to complement their pass rushing star.

Green Bay might not even need a superb secondary — not that you wouldn’t take one if you can find it — if he and fellow rusher Rashan Gary put so much pressure on QBs that they can hardly run any deep routes.

I’m thinking how this will affect my Detroit Lions this week. Let’s just say I’ll get to that when we look at that game.

So without further ado, unless someone wants to trade Patrick Mahomes to my Lions today, let’s look at this week’s games:

Today, 8:20 p.m.

Dallas at Philadelphia — Is this like the other-shoe-drops game for Packers fans, hoping to see how not having Micah Parsons makes the Cowboys look worse as Green Bay looks better with him?

I can see the logic, but not really. First, Parsons hadn’t played with Dallas all training camp, and yes, their defense has looked dreadful — though not as bad as Cincinnati’s.

Second, the run-first Eagles were probably going to exploit a pass defending Cowboys’ D with or without their star.

Finally, I wouldn’t put it past Philly fans to start throwing snowballs — or this time of year, maybe chunks of sod — at their “beloved” Eagles if they’re not performing up to their exacting standards. Remember who throws snowballs at Santa Claus?

And if Philly in humming in high gear, Dallas certainly isn’t the team to slow them down. Eagles, 31-20.

Friday, 8 p.m.

Kansas City vs. Los Angeles Chargers, at Sao Paulo, Brazil — I thought at first this game could only be watched by paying extra for a YouTube TV subscription.

Now I’m being told YouTube is supposed to make it available for free around the world. Only problem is I don’t have my computer hooked up to my hi-def TV.

So I still won’t be watching it.

On the football field, I’m hearing that the Chiefs have attempted to fix what ails them, specifically a leaky offensive line that let the Eagles run roughshod in the Super Bowl on that KC quarterback I was coveting for my Lions a few paragraphs ago.

Coach Andy Reid also taught his receivers how to catch the ball, and knowing this team, that’s about all they’ll have to do.

The Chargers ought to keep getting better, but I’m thinking maybe it’ll take a week or two for everything to take coagulate for this season. Chiefs, 27-21.

Sunday, 1 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Atlanta — With New Orleans only in the hunt for the No. 1 draft pick and unless Carolina suddenly decides to become relevant again, this game might decide the NFC South title, even though it’s Week 1.

That’s because the four-time division champs, Tampa, faces its biggest challenge from Atlanta. If the Falcons can’t win this matchup at home, how would they expect to do it in Tampa later in the season?

I heard one pundit putting Baker Mayfield in the conversation for NFL Most Valuable Player. OK, that’s quite rich, but if he can even enter that conversation, not Atlanta and certainly not Carolina nor New Orleans are going to stop Tampa.

So I’m only going to look ahead three days to Sunday. Anything beyond that and my crystal ball seems quite foggy. Buccaneers, 33-30.

Cincinnati at Cleveland — Half a team ought to be able to win half its games. That “half team” is the all-offense, no-defense Bengals, which is about three-eighths of a team more than what Cleveland has.

Remember, these are the Browns who’s 40-year-old starting QB Joe Flacco is just as close to my age as he is to either Marquette Senior High School QB Ford Richardson or Negaunee QB Kyle Waterman. Bengals, 35-29.

Miami at Indianapolis — I kinda like the Dolphins when QB Tua Tagovailoa is upright. This week, he is. Dolphins, 29-22.

Carolina at Jacksonville — I’d like the Jaguars’ chances better if they were at home — you know, their REAL home in London of jolly ol’ England fame.

The Panthers were coming on at the end of last season, which would’ve meant a lot more if the 2025 season had started in late January. Still, I’m not exactly inspired by Jacksonville despite the Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde Travis Hunter playing both sides of the ball. Panthers, 26-24.

Las Vegas at New England — There’s a lot of “springs eternal” in this matchup, as in “Hope springs eternal.” Two up-and-comers that if everything goes perfectly right — their positives are accentuated and negatives are totally hidden — they’ll be well on their way to only missing the playoffs on Christmas Day instead of Thanksgiving. In this kind of matchup, I have to fall back on ol’ reliable — don’t pick an (almost) West Coast team heading east and playing at 10 a.m. their time. Patriots, 23-17.

Arizona at New Orleans — You know what they say about 4-13 teams? That nobody saw it coming when they were 4-2.

Of course, some sort of converse can also be true — the team that starts 0-9 and ends up 4-13 will have the most optimistic fans saying they were “playing .500 ball the last eight games of the season.”

Unfortunately for the Saints, 4-13 might be their ceiling, so I have to take the Cardinals, 31-23.

Pittsburgh at New York Jets — I know who you Packers fans are rooting for in this game — the team that USED TO have Aaron Rodgers as QB. That’s because the other team CURRENTLY has Rodgers under center.

Putting all that aside, this is still Pittsburgh and this is still the Jets, and until I know more about them, I’m taking the Steelers, 24-16.

New York Giants at Washington — I believe the same pundit that was picking Baker Mayfield as MVP thinks the Giants’ Brian Daboll will be Coach of the Year. Yeah, I didn’t pay any more attention to that one, either.

Now, maybe I would entertain a Giants’ upset if Terry McLaurin had left Washington in a similar fashion as Micah Parsons did in Dallas.

And maybe I’d consider a Giants upset if their starting QB wasn’t Russell Wilson.

But while the first didn’t happen, the second already has. Commanders, 33-24.

Sunday, 4 p.m.

Tennessee at Denver — Boy, I’m getting itchy to pick an upset, which I believe I haven’t yet. So how about the Titans?

Except, you know, they EARNED the overall No. 1 pick in this year’s draft and there was never any consideration to anyone but that pick, Cam Ward, being installed as starting QB from Day 1 of minicamp.

And it pains me to pick against my “cousin” — he must be a REALLY distant cousin if you saw the two of us stand next to each other — Tennessee cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr.

But I’ll swallow my pride — it’s coated in a really good tomato sauce — and take the Broncos, 34-23.

San Francisco at Seattle — So at QB, we’ve got Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy armed with his fresh $265 million contract going up against current NFL journeyman Sam Darnold joining Seattle this year.

Somehow I see a Northern Michigan University graduate figuring big here. Darnold was exposed by the Lions in the playoffs last year, and I’m sure reinstalled 49ers defensive guru Robert Saleh — of Jets and more importantly NMU fame — took note.

And with San Fran recovering from lots of injuries, Saleh should have the horses to employ what he wants to do. 49ers, 27-19.

Detroit at Green Bay — Thought I forgot about this one, eh? Not a chance.

So back to the Parsons situation — Will he even play? There’s thoughts that guys who don’t practice in the preseason and jump right into games are a lot more likely to get injured. Besides, Parsons has an aching back.

And of course, we’ve seen how Dan Campbell & Co. in Detroit likes to run the ball, not something that is Parsons’ speciality.

If Green Bay gets a two-score lead at any point, that may force the Lions out of their ground game. Something tells me it’ll stay close, and finally in what may at least be a minor upset, give it to the Lions, 24-20.

Houston at Los Angeles Rams — Oh, MY aching back! That’s something I’ve said before, maybe not at age 37 like Rams QB Matthew Stafford, but then again, I’ve never played QB — at any level.

I doubt Stafford will be able to relax for this game after checking out a Sports Illustrated (that’s “SI” to you cool kids of today’s age) new online story about the best pass-rushing duos in the NFL, no doubt prompted by the Parsons’ trade to Green Bay.

Guess who’s No. 1? Nope, not the Packers, though in the aftermath of the trade they are rated No. 2.

Nope, No. 1 is Houston, and rushers Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. will probably see red meat where Stafford’s bulging disc in his back is. Texans, 27-20.

Sunday, 8:20 p.m.

Baltimore at Buffalo — Couldn’t NBC save this matchup for Week 15 or 16? Sure, it’s a great way to kick off Sunday Night Football, but when there’s some miserable matchup like the 2-11 Giants against the 4-9 Steelers late in the campaign on a Sunday night, I’d be yearning for these two teams to play each other instead.

Making the most of it, however, I only like Buffalo more because of its easy division and supposedly easier schedule on paper. But when the two teams actually go up against each other, I have to take the Ravens, 29-28.

Monday, 8:15 p.m.

Minnesota at Chicago — Sure, new head coach Ben Johnson should make Bears second-year QB Caleb Williams a new man. But these makeovers take time.

It’s Week 1, so patience isn’t being rewarded quite yet. Vikings, 32-23.

Last year’s regular season — 183-89, 67 percent. Last year’s playoffs — 8-5, 62 percent.

Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.