The Green Bay Packers badly need Micah Parsons back from injury, and the star edge defender will make a huge difference for the roster once he returns. While he’s still out, though, the Packers have found one silver lining: the performance of rookie fourth-round pick Dani Dennis-Sutton.

DDS has been a pleasant surprise for Green Bay. He was expected to come off the board somewhere around the late second or early third round, but he fell to the fourth, and the Packers grabbed him. So far, the start of his career has looked much more aligned with his pre-draft stock than with where he was actually drafted.

Production well above a fourth-round pick

Through the first seven weeks, Dennis-Sutton has generated 15 pressures, 1.5 sacks, eight stops, and 10 tackles. He also has a solid 67.2 run defense grade, per PFF. For a fourth-round rookie, that’s impressive production.

The interesting aspect is how much of that came over the past three weeks. In the wins over the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys and the loss to the Detroit Lions, Dennis-Sutton is tied with Lukas Van Ness for the most pressures on the team, with nine. A big part of that is simply volume. He has played more snaps, and he has been more effective with them.

Earlier in the season, Dennis-Sutton was the fourth edge defender in the rotation, behind Van Ness, Barryn Sorrell, and Brenton Cox. Now, he has essentially become the No. 2 player in that group. Even though he didn’t play the first snap against Detroit, he was second among Green Bay’s edge defenders in playing time, logging 50% of the defensive snaps. Only Van Ness (62%) played more, while Sorrell (49%) and Cox (43%) trailed him.

It’s still a heavy rotation behind Van Ness, and Dennis-Sutton shouldn’t play as much once Parsons is back. However, edge defender is a position where teams rotate a lot by nature. The rookie has outplayed Cox, and especially Sorrell, who was the presumed starter opposite Van Ness. For a fourth-round rookie to do that, the Packers clearly got a player who can be impactful down the stretch.

Edge depth while Parsons is out

It’s unclear when Parsons will get back to the field, but his return should come soon, probably right after the Packers’ bye in Week 11. Until then, Van Ness, Sorrell, Dennis-Sutton, and Cox are the four edge defenders on the 53-man roster.

Green Bay also has two edge defenders on the practice squad. Arron Mosby has been elevated for gameday over the past two weeks, mostly to play special teams. Undrafted rookie Nyjalik Kelly is essentially a developmental player.

Collin Oliver is another name to consider, but he started the season on injured reserve with a calf injury, and the Packers haven’t opened his 21-day practice window. The second-year, fifth-round pick has barely played in the NFL because of multiple injuries.

Long-term implications

Dennis-Sutton was drafted to be a rotational edge defender. He has taken advantage of his opportunities, and he will certainly be part of the plan for the rest of the season.

There’s also a long-term repercussion for this. Cox is playing on a one-year contract, and while the Packers exercised Van Ness’ fifth-year option for 2027, he doesn’t have a long-term deal in place either.

If Green Bay can develop Dennis-Sutton into a viable edge defender for the future, he could become the long-term starter alongside Parsons. That would give the front office more flexibility when deciding who it wants to pay.

Dennis-Sutton is a big part of the three-to-four-year window plan, and the Packers should value him highly after what he has shown in the first few weeks of his career.