For those wondering, no, there was never interest in the Cowboys turning around and doing to Rashan Gary what the Baltimore Ravens did when they nixed the trade for Las Vegas pass rusher Maxx Crosby over medical concerns discovered during a physical examination. And while that was an Internet conversation, it was never a thought in Gary’s mind.
Gary said he didn’t even hear about the Crosby news until he passed his own physical with the Cowboys.
“I was on my visit,” Gary said on Thursday, “handling the things I needed to handle.”
Because the Cowboys pivoted to Gary after initially missing out on Crosby, some will compare the two. Some might even go as far as to compare Gary to former Cowboys star pass rusher Micah Parsons, who teamed with Gary in Green Bay last year. Gary doesn’t look at it that way.
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“I’m coming here to be me,” Gary said when asked about replacing Parsons, “and be the impact that the Cowboys need.”
This much is true: The Cowboys likely will need Gary to play a major role on a defense that hopes to improve from worst in the NFL a year ago. Gary, acquired for a fourth-round pick in 2027, believes he has the ability to do it.
“The main thing for me is to come in, play good ball, and play good ball to the point that we’re playing meaningful games,” said Gary, who went to the playoffs in six of his seven seasons in Green Bay, “and then playing for some trophies, and playing for some hats and T-shirts.”
The Cowboys already have familiarity with Gary. New Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker was in Green Bay when the Packers selected Gary with the 12th overall pick in 2019. Dallas defensive passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley spent the previous two seasons in Green Bay in the same role. New Cowboys pass rush consultant, BT Jordan, has worked extensively with Gary.
Gary’s position flexibility, and his experience playing both defensive end and outside linebacker, are why Dallas sought the 6-foot-5, 275-pound edge player. Gary said he’ll join the outside linebacker room — currently featuring Donovan Ezeiruaku, Sam Williams and Marist Liufau — but understands Parker’s ambitions to have multiple fronts.
Cowboys fans also shouldn’t expect Gary to have the same type of impact that Crosby has shown in Las Vegas, or Parsons has shown in both Dallas and Green Bay. Gary, a Pro Bowler in 2024, set his career high in sacks with 9.5 in 2021. This past season, while playing alongside Parsons, it looked as if Gary might eclipse that. Gary had 7.5 sacks in his first seven games. He didn’t record a sack the remainder of the season, however.
“Football is football and at that time we were playing meaningful games, and when you play meaningful games it doesn’t come down to stats,” Gary said of the difference between the first and second half of his season, in terms of the sack production. “It really comes down to how you affect offenses and things like that.
“Being the player I am, the plays are going to come my way.”
To Gary’s point, the sack numbers changed but the pressure was actually better during the stretch where he failed to record a sack. He averaged three pressures per game in the first seven games, per Pro Football Focus. In the last 11, he averaged just over 3.5 pressures per game.
Gary also believes he can help the Cowboys play better run defense on the edge. Opposing ball carriers often had success running wide against a Cowboys defense that allowed 4.7 yards per carry overall. That ranked the Cowboys 26th in the NFL.
“Turn it around, man,” Gary said about what he can bring to the Cowboys’ run defense. “I’m one of the best in the league. I feel like anything that I need to do in terms of setting the edge, knocking things back, trying to keep things under control, being able to two-gap in situations that I need, and just being able to just to be the anchor that I am.”
And that — the idea of being himself — is what Cowboys fans should expect, too.
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