Cowboys well positioned to make bigger splash at EDGE after Rashan Gary trade
Flash back to one offseason ago for the Dallas Cowboys, and a team under new guidance with head coach Brian Schottenheimer was being praised for using all avenues of player acquisition – free agency, trades, and the draft – in an effort to improve their roster. Chronologically speaking, the last of these moves came at the 11th hour before the start of the regular season when Dallas traded Micah Parsons to Green Bay in exchange for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and a pair of first-round picks.
Fast forward to today, and the Cowboys decided to get an early jump on the “acquiring a Packers defensive lineman via trade” part of the offseason, this time bringing in Rashan Gary and sending the Packers a 2027 fourth-round pick.
The Cowboys have been all about acquiring players that truly fit their coaching staff under Schottenheimer, and on Monday Gary became one of the first examples of this for not only first-year DC Christian Parker, but the position coaches that Parker has selected as well.
The mothership’s Tommy Yarrish explains all of the connections between Gary and the Cowboys current coaching staff here:
There are several connections between Gary and Dallas’ defensive staff. New Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker was in Green Bay when the Packers drafted Gary in 2019 while serving as a defensive quality control coach. It wasn’t only Gary’s first two seasons in the league that they spent together, but also Parker’s first two seasons working in the NFL as well. Cowboys defensive pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach Derrick Ansley was also with Gary in Green Bay while he served as the Packers’ passing game coordinator in 2024 and 2025. Additionally, Gary has spent time training with new Cowboys pass rush consultant Brandon Jordan and will get to do so again.
The Cowboys adding Gary in the very early stages of free agency also marks their first former first-round pick added to the roster this offseason, something they’ve had an affinity for in offseasons. His familiarity with not only the Cowboys coaching staff, but multiple defensive schemes beyond just the one he started with alongside Parker, most of which utilized him in 3-4 fronts that Parker intends to bring to the Cowboys, will give Gary all the tools he needs to be the type of high-upside offseason addition Dallas needs.
Gary’s two best sack totals of his career both came under defensive coordinator Joe Barry, with 9.5 in 2021 and nine in 2023. Barry came into the job after spending 2020 with the Los Angeles Rams as their assistant head coach and linebackers coach. Brandon Staley was the Rams defensive coordinator that year. Staley’s system is regarded as one of the closest in relation to that of Vic Fangio’s, which is also the starting point of comparison for what to expect from a Christian Parker defense with the Cowboys. Parker comes over from the rival Eagles where he was one of Fangio’s most trusted assistants.
One of the hallmarks of all of these defenses, and something Cowboys fans should be familiar with already having watched the Eagles excel at it in recent seasons, is having a defensive front that can play with elite gap integrity, shed blocks at the point of attack against the run, and hold up at the line of scrimmage. Having quick twitch pass rushers off the edge is never, ever a bad thing for any defense going up against today’s passing offenses, but it isn’t exactly a priority for down linemen in the base 3-4 fronts at topic here. While Gary is officially the Cowboys first addition at EDGE this offseason as a pass rusher, his ability to also add depth in select spots to an already strong defensive tackle group, or play as a 3-4 end with his hand down, is telling.
It may be Gary’s inability to consistently win with speed on the edge to pressure quarterbacks in quick game that has held him back slightly throughout his career, but this has always been a player that can occupy blocks and penetrate with his hand on the ground, create pressures that help other rushers get home, and shed against the run. What can we gather from the fact the Cowboys prioritized these traits at the very start of the player acquisition phase at one of their biggest positions of need, after already releasing Perrion Winfrey as a pass rushing defensive tackle, and missing out on the more dynamic EDGE player Maxx Crosby?
The foremost thing is that the Cowboys are setting themselves up to still make a big splash at pass rusher. Their needs in the secondary have taken a bit of a backburner amidst all this talk and activity in the front seven, at not just defensive line but linebacker as well. Several notable free agents at linebacker went off the board on day one, mainly Nakobe Dean who the Cowboys had a reported high interest in, but the former Eagle and Parker defender signed with the Las Vegas Raiders instead. Just because they aren’t being talked about as much at this exact moment of time in the offseason, these needs have not gotten any smaller, although the Cowboys did make one addition at safety as well on Monday with Jalen Thompson. The cold hard truth is that Dallas will need to retain assets at their disposal to continue making moves at these positions, their best of which right now being the pair of first-round picks they hold in April’s draft.
The next best thing the Cowboys can do during this time is put a depth chart in place that will maximize whatever splash addition at EDGE they end up making, rookie draft pick or otherwise. Their current group of second-year ascending player Donovan Ezeiruaku, Marist Liufau, James Houston, Gary, and their re-signing of Sam Williams back for 2026 on a one-year deal, does a nice job of achieving exactly this. On paper, this may not be a pass rush group that is going to take over games, but they can achieve the multiplicity along the front that Parker is seeking, defend the run, and work well in unison with the likes of Kenny Clark, Osa Odighizuwa, Quinnen Williams, and Solomon Thomas as down linemen. The player that can come the closest to giving the Cowboys that missing “Parsons effect” is what Dallas should be after next as a speed rusher with finishing ability, and whether that’s Trey Hendrickson or otherwise, they won’t be asked to bite off more than they can chew in pass rush responsibility thanks to these other moves.
The Cowboys may not be just one player away at any of the three levels of their defense, but with the addition of Rashan Gary, they are closest to this status in the all-important trenches more than anywhere else. Pass rusher is a position that bodes well for making that one big splash as opposed to being as good as your weakest link like at cornerback. Furthermore, opportunities to rush the passer can’t be maximized without fundamental early down run defense being solidified, and the Cowboys have done the early work to improve in this area as well.
Rashan Gary is a quality addition to the Cowboys defense as a standalone, experienced player with past production, but the best of this move may be yet to come as Dallas has what they need to hone in on a complementary piece to bookend the pass rusher acquired via trade.
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