NFL star Micah Parsons says he's 'addicted' to pickleball

Alex Lantz

Director of Content

Last Edited

Oct 01 2025

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News

NFL defensive end Micah Parsons is off to a strong start to the 2025 season after a blockbuster trade over the summer that sent him from the Dallas Cowboys to the Green Bay Packers.

Parsons was a big storyline in the NFL this week because he returned to Dallas for the first time since the trade -- the Cowboys hosted the Packers on Sunday, and the game ended in a 40-40 tie. Parsons logged one sack.

The secret to his offseason training regimen leading into this season: Pickleball, of course.

"I'm playing like two, three times a week," Parsons said in a July interview with CBS Sports. "It's like great cardio playing singles. I'm addicted."

Parsons' love of pickleball has been building for years, and he even joined the ownership group of MLP's Texas Ranchers in 2023. He credits his agent, David Mulugheta, for getting him into the game initially.

"David had a pickleball event like two years ago in Austin. We all came down, and that kind of like sparked my interest," he said. "As it started growing, I ended up getting a stake in the Ranchers, and that's when I really started getting involved, wanting to be around it, learning more about it."

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While he's confident he is one of the best pickleball players in the NFL, Parsons has seen high-level pickleball up close and acknowledges he's not quite there yet.

"I think I'm an OK player," he said. "I've played against some pros and some really good players, so I'm like OK. There's levels to it. Pickleball is all about touch. It ain't really about how strong you can hit it. It's about touch, feel, placement. It's strategic. I'm still mastering it. It's hard."

He recently joined a Packers roster that includes several other avid pickleball players, including tight ends Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave, who regularly play at an indoor facility just a few miles from Lambeau Field.

“It’s just an easy sport to play for a long time,” Kraft said during a Pickleball.com interview earlier this year. “As long as you’re having fun, it doesn’t really matter how competitive the games get or who you’re playing with.”

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