The Dallas Cowboys made a shrewd move moments before free agency unofficially began last week, trading for Green Bay Packers EDGE Rashan Gary. The former 12th overall pick out of Michigan has topped seven sacks in six of his seven regular-seasons in the league. He\u2019s also a natural fit at the outside linebacker role in Christian Parker\u2019s new defense.<\/p>\n
Despite all that, the Cowboys still have work to do on the edge.<\/p>\n
If the season started today, Gary and Donovan Ezeiruaku would likely be the two edge rushers on the field in nickel downs. That\u2019s not a terrible idea, given Gary\u2019s track record in Green Bay and the flashes Ezeiruaku showed throughout last year. But it\u2019s also not going to make this pass rush materially better than it was last year.<\/p>\n
A big part of that has to do with Gary, actually. The Packer pass rusher has consistently put up good numbers, but he\u2019s benefitted greatly from never being the number one EDGE in Green Bay. When he was first drafted, Gary rotated in behind starting EDGEs Preston Smith and Za\u2019Darius Smith, with Gary eventually replacing the latter Smith.<\/p>\n
Gary broke out in the 2021 season, racking up 87 pressures and 11.5 sacks (including the playoffs). That played a big part in the Packers releasing Za\u2019Darius Smith. Gary then blossomed as the secondary threat to Preston Smith, averaging 52 pressures and eight sacks over the next two years. That helped the Packers accept the idea of trading away Smith early into the 2024 season, making Gary their top edge rusher now ahead of second-year pro Lukas Van Ness.<\/p>\n
The result was Gary\u2019s worst full season as the starter. He still finished with the team lead in pressures, but at a paltry 41, and his pass rush win rate of 12.2% was well below his 16.9% average over the previous three years.<\/p>\n
Gary bounced back in his production this past year, finishing second on the team in both pressures and sacks, but he was also helped out in a major way by the presence of one Micah Parsons. Just take a look at Gary\u2019s numbers the last three years as it relates to double team rate between him and the other Packers EDGE:<\/p>\n
Double Team Rates for EDGERashan GaryPackers Teammate202312.8%16.2%202418.9%13.4%202514.1%31.2%<\/p>\n
In both 2023 and 2025, Gary\u2019s double team rate was well below the league average, while his teammates (Smith in 2023, Parsons in 2025) were over the league average. The 2024 season saw the inverse, which also happened to be Gary\u2019s least efficient season as a starting edge rusher.<\/p>\n
This is not to say that Gary is a bad player or that the trade was a mistake. In fact, it was a very good deal, and Gary\u2019s consistency as an edge setter in run defense is a big part of that equation. However, it\u2019s pretty clear that Gary derives his greatest pass rushing value when he\u2019s a complement to the main rusher, as he was for Smith and Parsons.<\/p>\n
Ezeiruaku certainly has the potential to be on the level of Smith and threaten defenses in that manner. His 12.6% pass rush win rate as a rookie was third among Cowboys EDGEs and second among his draft class, behind only Abdul Carter. That\u2019s promising, but it would be unwise for the Cowboys to rely on him reaching his potential this soon, especially as he learns a new scheme.<\/p>\n
What that means is the organization is still very much in need of finding answers at EDGE for this upcoming season. At this point in the free agency calendar, that likely means the draft will be their best option. That\u2019s good, because this is a very deep draft class for EDGEs.<\/p>\n
Miami\u2019s Rueben Bain and Texas Tech\u2019s David Bailey are considered the top two, and either could potentially fall to Dallas at 12 for various reasons. Miami\u2019s Akheem Mesidor is incredibly accomplished, but his advanced age makes him an option at 12 (and maybe even 20), while Texas A&M\u2019s Cashius Howell, Clemson\u2019s T.J. Parker, and Oklahoma\u2019s R Mason Thomas have all been linked to the Cowboys in mock drafts.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also the trade block.<\/p>\n
If Dallas doesn\u2019t feel sold on one of those guys significantly elevating their pass rush immediately, there are trade options still out there. It sounds as if the medical concerns with Maxx Crosby are too much, but his talent (if healthy) would absolutely upgrade this team and ensure Gary has plenty of opportunities.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Greenard has lived in the backfield the last two years for the Vikings, both of which he worked with new Cowboys defensive line coach Marcus Dixon. If not for Minnesota\u2019s cap crunch, they wouldn\u2019t even consider moving him, but he\u2019s very much on the block right now.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s always those Steelers outside linebackers, Nick Herbig and Alex Highsmith. The two productive edge rushers are constantly competing for snaps opposite T.J. Watt, and it shouldn\u2019t take too much convincing that Pittsburgh should at least get some compensation for one of them.<\/p>\n
Whatever the Cowboys ultimately do, they need to do something. Both Gary and Ezeiruaku are very good players with plenty of potential, but together they do not represent a top-tier edge rushing duo in 2026. And if Matt Eberflus taught us anything last year, it\u2019s that having a top-tier pass rush is vital to playing good defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys made a shrewd move moments before free agency unofficially began last week, trading for Green…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,7011,26780,104,103],"class_list":["post-207508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys-draft","tag-dallas-cowboys-free-agency","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}