NFL Insider Ian Rapoport Talks Micah Parsons Return Timeline; Cowboys Optimism

One of the wildest weeks in recent NFL memory needed someone to sort through the wreckage. Ian Rapoport showed up in a Nantucket lid to do it.

"Listen, you got to class it up a little bit," Rapoport told Rich. "Someone's got to elevate."

What followed was a tour of nearly every storyline in the league: the Rams' overtime loss to Buffalo, the 0-5 Chargers, the Marvin Harrison Jr. trade, Micah Parsons, Caleb Williams, Dan Quinn's seat, and a draft class already shaping up to be fascinating.

Rich opened with Sean McVay's admission that he had never been more upset after a loss. Rapoport first flagged a different piece of the aftermath: the punch thrown at Bradley Chubb, which is being reviewed for discipline. He said a suspension is possible, noting that the player involved is also under NFL review for a domestic incident.

On McVay, Rapoport split the issue in two. The blocked kick? "That's really inexcusable," he said, while giving the Bills credit for a great plan. The frustration over the third-and-five call, though, he didn't understand. McVay was upset with himself for being conservative, but Rapoport didn't think he was. "It was really Arik Armstead kind of ruining it for him," he said. "The Bills are good, and they beat the Rams. I don't know that Sean McVay did anything wrong."

Rich wondered whether the conservative approach in field goal range was born out of watching the Giants fumble trying to gain extra yards against the Commanders. Rapoport thought it probably played in, along with the Bills' own fumble while driving earlier. "Whatever we do, don't put the ball in harm's way," he said of the Rams' likely mindset. "And that to me is okay. It's all fine. You just got to make the field goal."

His bigger point was that none of this changes the Rams' ceiling. Myles Garrett had knee surgery the Monday after week one on what Rapoport understood to be a six-week recovery, putting week seven in view. "Nothing I've seen has stopped me from saying this is a team that can win the Super Bowl," he said, adding that he could see the Rams and Bills meeting again in a very big game.

Rich called the 0-5 Chargers one of the biggest surprises of the year, if not the biggest, and asked whether changes were coming. Rapoport said he had asked the questions and talked to the people. "I do not get a sense that any change is coming," he said. The feeling is that it hasn't been good enough, but that they have the right people to fix it.

Jim Harbaugh and Mike McDaniel knew there would be an adjustment period, Rapoport said, just not this much of one. McDaniel's system is very specific and timing-based, the timing has been off, and Justin Herbert "has looked not good." Rapoport called the defense underratedly pretty good, with a coordinator most people have never heard of.

If they did want to make a change on offense, which Rapoport stressed he hasn't sensed, Adam Gase is on staff in an offensive role and could theoretically step in. "I know people sort of roll their eyes," Rapoport said, noting Gase once ran the highest-scoring offense in NFL history. Rich suggested "scoff" might be the better verb for future Gase references. Rapoport's own lesson from one memorable Gase press conference was more practical: "Don't put a guy who doesn't wear a suit in a suit."

Rich had texted Rapoport over the weekend about the strangest part of the Harrison trade: the receiver was ruled out with a deal in place, and yet nobody would say where he was going. Rapoport walked through the tick-tock.

About three weeks earlier, he got word that Harrison was available at a very high price. Around the same time, Harrison hired Todd France and Tory Dandy of Athletes First, and the reason was to navigate a trade. Rapoport worked quietly with Adam Schefter as teams like the Colts and Texans checked in. On Saturday morning, word came that Harrison would be inactive and was being traded, but the two teams had very specific requests, or orders, to keep the destination quiet.

"People think that me and Adam were sort of withholding information. It really wasn't that," he said. They had triangulated and believed strongly it was Houston, which is why they reported the Texans as the favorite without calling it done. "You cannot be wrong. Of all the things, you can't be wrong." Then DeMeco Ryans came out and said it. Even Harrison, Rapoport noted, didn't know definitively where he was going until very late.

Rich pointed out that Harrison lands with a quarterback who threw to him at Ohio State, then asked the bigger question: why did the Cardinals cut bait? Was it Mike LaFleur? Was it the JUGS machine story?

Rapoport kept it simple. Harrison is talented enough that everybody thought he was a top-five pick. "Obviously, look, the Cardinals made a mistake. He should not have been a top five pick. Okay. But everybody would have taken him there," he said. There were no red flags. It just wasn't working: he was being targeted around fourth on the team, the completions weren't happening, and every week brought the same question about why Arizona wasn't getting him the ball.

"So I think moving on was probably the right thing for Arizona," Rapoport said. As for Houston, which gave up a second-round pick, the evaluation comes down to one question: is Harrison more valuable this year and next than a second-round player would have been? "If the answer is yes, then it was a good trade."

The Cowboys-Packers Sunday night game had been circled as Micah Parsons' return, but Rapoport said Green Bay operates medical first, football second. Parsons is not going to practice this week, Rapoport's sense is he'll practice next week, and week seven is in play with week eight more likely. "When he plays, he is going to be the Micah Parsons of old, one of the best players in football," he said. Add Josh Jacobs once his legal situation is figured out, and Rapoport thinks the Packers have "some sneaky team vibes."

Rich noted how quickly the narrative flipped in Dallas, from a defense that had been rebuilt with Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark, and Quinnen Williams to one everyone is now questioning. Rapoport surprised him. "I actually thought the defensive performance was okay," he said, pointing to a fourth-down stop. He also liked the hire of Mike Pettine, comparing it to Baltimore bringing in Dean Pees alongside young coordinator Zach Orr. "I think the defensive coordinator is good. I think he's talented," he said. "Sometimes experience helps."

He also thinks the Joey Porter Jr. trade will be a really good one. "Maybe I'm crazy. It's possible I'm crazy, but I still think the Cowboys are going to be really good."

Rapoport doesn't expect Kyle Monangai to play, describing his turf toe as roughly a three-week injury. Caleb Williams, though, has a really good shot to play after a good workout before last week's game, with this being week four of a three-to-four week injury. "Will probably help to have one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL on the field," Rapoport said.

On the other side, Michael Penix's rib injury is not considered major. If he practices Wednesday, Rapoport thinks he has a good chance to play, and Penix himself believes he will. Rapoport said Rashee Rice was expected to practice after the Chiefs' bye, and relayed Mike Garafolo's belief that Saquon Barkley has a chance to play, a big boost with Will Shipley injured.

There were no rash moves in Washington, and Rapoport didn't expect any. Josh Harris has been through it as an owner and knows that if you do something, it better be worth it. But the spotlight is now firmly on Dan Quinn.

"Every movement is going to be evaluated and discussed," Rapoport said. "If the losses continue, the cries get louder. And then at some point, the owner goes, 'Okay, fine.'" His prescription: go win some football games. Rich noted the next one is a Monday night trip to San Francisco to face the de facto best team in football. "Not the greatest," Rapoport agreed.

Asked what lit up his phone most over the weekend, Rapoport didn't hesitate: Harrison. It felt like draft season, when general managers call him instead of the other way around. "Every person in sort of power or whatever was calling and wanting to know," he said. "It was like comedy."

Rich left him with homework. With the Titans, Chargers, and Dolphins all 0-5, how many teams at the top of next year's draft won't need a quarterback and might be tempted by Jeremiah Smith, the receiver Larry Fitzgerald called "an absolute mutant" on the show?

Rapoport wants to see the evaluations first, reminding Rich that people talked about Harrison as generational too. If Miami lands the top pick, he guesses a quarterback elevates himself. Tennessee would be the most interesting decision. And the Chargers in the top five two months from now? "That would be a big surprise to me."

The catch, as both noted, is that this was supposed to be the best quarterback draft anyone had seen, and now it's unclear who the quarterbacks are. Arch Manning might not come out. Rich said Daniel Jeremiah's dart throw last week was Drew Mestemaker at Oklahoma State.

"Just like we all thought going into the season," Rapoport said.