The Dallas Cowboys made a significant move ahead of the kickoff of the two-day negotiating period, acquiring edge rusher Rashan Gary from the Green Bay Packers, according to CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones. Dallas will send Green Bay a fourth-round draft pick in 2027, per multiple reports.
The Packers were originally set to release Gary ahead of the new league year but will instead send him to Dallas. Gary reunites with former Packers teammate Kenny Clark, as well as new defensive coordinator Christian Parker, who was with the Packers as a defensive quality control coach during Gary’s 2019 rookie year. He’s set to draw base salaries of $18 million in 2026 and $21 million in 2027, but none of that money is guaranteed, according to Over the Cap.Â
During his seven-year career, Gary picked up 46.5 sacks, 46 tackles for loss and 111 quarterback hits, according to Pro-Football-Reference. Gary’s 13.8% pressure rate in 2025, according to Tru Media, ranked 49th out of the 271 players that rushed the passer at least 100 times. It represented an improvement over his 11.9% mark in 2024 but a steep drop from his peak of 18.5% and then 19.9% during the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
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He is, at this point, probably a better run defender than pass rusher, but he can still be part of a rotation on the edge, where Dallas still has significant needs. The Cowboys had only Donovan Ezeiruaku and James Houston under contract among the edge rushers the team had in 2025. Gary will be counted on to contribute but Dallas certainly still needs to add to the room in order to feel confident about its group entering the 2026 season.
Green Bay, meanwhile, gets a mid-round pick in exchange for a player it was probably going to release ahead of the new league year. The Packers will take on $17 million in dead money but clear approximately $11 million in cap space, which they needed because they were only $9.7 million under the cap prior to the trade, according to Over the Cap.
Cowboys: C+
Dallas badly needed help on the edge, and Gary will provide some of it. The cost to acquire a player who was probably going to be released was not nothing, though, and Gary’s contract is still pretty sizable. He’s probably not worth $39 million over two years at this stage of his career — even if none of it is guaranteed. So for now, the Cowboys get a decent but not great grade on the deal. If they rework Gary’s contract to make his cap hit more palatable, however, the grade could rise.Â
Packers: A-
Green Bay was probably going to cut Gary if it did not find a trade partner for him before the start of the new league year. Getting a fourth-round pick, even a year out, is nice work. The trade costs the Packers the same amount of dead money and creates the same amount of cap space as would have a release, but they get a draft pick for their troubles. That’s some pretty nice work, even if they didn’t get a ton of compensation.
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