The Green Bay Packers announced their 2026 team captains on Monday, and the roster of names immediately stood out for who was not included.

Quarterback Jordan Love, tight end Tucker Kraft, linebacker Isaiah McDuffie and safety Xavier McKinney will wear the C again this season. Zaire Franklin, the veteran linebacker who arrived from Indianapolis in the offseason, was added to the group.

Micah Parsons was not.

Parsons joined the Packers last season and quickly became the defense’s most disruptive player. Before tearing his ACL in Week 15 of 2025, he posted 12.5 sacks, 41 tackles and two forced fumbles while remaining in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation.

He is currently on the physically unable to perform list and is expected to sit out at least the first four games of 2026. The organization has not indicated a much longer absence after that, yet the team still declined to name him a captain.

Captains are not chosen solely on production. Coaches often look for players who set the tone in meetings, handle special teams duties and stay present through the grind of a long season. McDuffie earned his spot in part because of more than 1,000 career special-teams snaps.

Franklin, though new to Green Bay, brings four consecutive seasons of 100-plus tackles and a reputation as a locker-room presence. Love and Kraft already carried the title last year. Parsons, by comparison, arrived midseason in 2025 and spent much of the offseason rehabbing rather than leading daily practices.

That context makes the choice understandable even if it still surprises fans. Parsons is the player whose return most clearly raises Green Bay’s ceiling.

Leaving him off the list while including a recently acquired linebacker and a special-teams mainstay suggests the organization continues to value availability and familiarity inside the building as much as raw talent when it hands out captaincies.

The Packers named seven captains a year ago. Running back Josh Jacobs is on the commissioner-exempt list, and both Quay Walker and Rashan Gary have left the roster. The group has been trimmed and reshuffled.

Whether Parsons eventually receives the honor once he is fully healthy remains an open question. For now the official captains are Love, Kraft, Franklin, McDuffie and McKinney.

The most talented defender on the roster will have to lead without the letter on his jersey.