Rashan Gary, Who Was Traded to Cowboys, Personifies State of Packers

The Rashan Gary era is over in Green Bay after the Green Bay Packers were able to trade him to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-round pick in 2027.

That the Packers decided to get rid of Gary did not come as a surprise, as Gary’s future was in doubt after the season due to a ballooning salary-cap number without the production to match it.

Gary’s career in Green Bay ends in a complicated spot. He was good but never great.

The same can be said for the team that drafted him.

Gary was general manager Brian Gutekunst’s second-ever first-round pick. He was the 12th overall selection of the 2019 NFL Draft, selected ahead of players like Brian Burns by the Panthers and Montez Sweat by the Commanders.

The first image of Gary’s career showed him being emotional after the Packers selected him and his dream of playing in the NFL had become a reality. That type of reaction should tug at the heartstrings of any fan base. It would not have taken much for Gary to become a fan favorite.

Instead, he spent the majority of his rookie season in the shadows of two prized free agent acquisitions, Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith. That was understandable. Both players were excellent in their first seasons in Green Bay, with both surpassing double-digit sacks.

Gary, meanwhile, played fewer snaps than Kyler Fackrell as a rookie before taking a bit of a jump in his second year as a pro.

Gary went from two sacks as a rookie to five as a second-year player. He pushed Preston Smith for time as a starter before essentially becoming a full-time starter in 2021, when Za’Darius Smith missed almost the entire season with a back injury.

By the time 2022 hit, it was supposed to be Gary’s show. Za’Darius Smith was gone, Preston Smith was beginning to show signs of age and Gary was set to take hold of his position group as the best player on the defense.

Of course, everything changed when Gary missed the last two months of the season with a knee injury that he suffered in Detroit.

Rashan Gary Provided $96 Million of Disruption

Gary would make a remarkable return in 2023, playing in the season opener just 10 months after tearing his ACL.

His first big performance came in a comeback victory in the home opener, when the Packers erased a 17-point deficit against the New Orleans Saints to steal an 18-17 win. Gary had three sacks, then signed a four-year, $96 million contract extension the next day. It appeared that after years of being a good player, Gary looked destined to make the jump to be a great one.

That would not materialize. Gary’s on-field production never matched his contract. Sacks are not an end-all statistic, and most will tell you that disruption is production.

Green Bay Packers defensive ends Micah Parsons (1) and Rashan Gary (52) pressure Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. | Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There is some truth to that. The difference between the good players and the great ones, however, is turning disruption into destruction by getting the quarterback on the ground.

Reggie White isn’t considered one of the greatest defensive players of all time because of the pressures he amassed. He was a first-ballot Hall of Fame player because he finished his career with 198 sacks.

Myles Garrett and Micah Parsons are disruptive, as well. They also get opposing quarterbacks on the ground. That’s why those players are consistently mentioned in the Defensive Player of the Year conversations, while Gary was simply noted as a good edge rusher, even if it felt like there was consistently some meat left on the bone for him.

A Stark Contrast

The Pro Bowl means next-to-nothing these days, but Gary’s lone selection came in 2024. He was never an All-Pro and never considered among the best players at his position.

That does not make him a bad player. However, the difference between Gary at his best compared to what everyone in Green Bay saw from Parsons this past season was jarring.

Parsons constantly affected the game, whether through double or triple teams. Despite a shortened season, he sacked the quarterback 12 times. Parsons joined White as the only players to begin their careers with five consecutive seasons of 12-plus sacks.

Gary, on the other hand, never reached double-digit sacks. His calling card was a high motor and a solid run defender.

To Gary’s credit, he did defend the run well through most of his tenure in Green Bay. Former defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley was sure to point that out this season when criticism began to emerge about Gary’s play.

“Rashan’s playing the run game way better than he did last year, in my opinion. We’re not getting many drop-back passes,” Hafley said. “We’re getting seven-man, six-man, play-action protections where it’s about rushing and converting, and a lot of times you have a tight end and a tackle on you or a tight end and a back on you. So, at the same time, he’s not getting as many opportunities.”

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) eludes Green Bay Packers defensive end Rashan Gary. | Dan Powers-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Essentially the same circumstances existed for Gary as they did the rest of his teammates, and Gary was shut out for the final two months of the season. No sacks. No tackles for losses. Even pressures, Gary’s calling card, went down dramatically as the season went on.

When Parsons suffered a torn ACL, that was when the Packers needed their $96 Million Man to step up the most. Gary was defiant in his words to the media after Parsons’ injury.

“Watch how the front play,” Gary said, insinuating they would be up to the task even without their best player.

Instead, the front was pushed around by the Baltimore Ravens two weeks later and didn’t record a sack in the games Gary played in to close out the regular season. They sacked Caleb Williams once in the playoffs, but Gary was shut out that night, as well, while being out-snapped by Kingsley Enagbare and Lukas Van Ness.

As the season went on, Gary’s effort while wearing a captain’s patch on his chest was questionable, to say the least.

The Packers would defend him through the year. Coach Matt LaFleur famously said Gary was not a “huge snap count guy.”

The reality is, by the end of the season, the Packers knew they needed more from Gary and they were not getting it, which is why he lost playing time to Enagbare and Van Ness by the end of the season.

Good But Not Great a Too-Familiar Theme for Packers

Now, the Packers have decided they’re better off with a draft pick coming on the third day of next year’s draft than having Gary on the roster.

When Gary was drafted and subsequently signed to his $96 million contract extension, this is not what the Packers envisioned, but it’s another pick in a long line of first-round picks that have had good careers but not great ones.

Jaire Alexander was a great player whose career was ruined by injuries that forced him to retire from football during the 2025 season.

Jordan Love has ascended into a great player. Apart from that, none of Gutekunst’s first-round picks have turned into blue-chip players.

Cornerback Eric Stokes had an impressive rookie season in 2021, then didn’t even break up a pass the next three seasons before they let him sign with the Raiders last offseason. Linebacker Quay Walker and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, the first-round picks in 2022, had their moments; the Packers let Walker sign with the Raiders on Monday.

Van Ness, the first-round pick in 2023, has 8.5 sacks in three seasons. We’ll know more about the last two first-round picks, offensive lineman Jordan Morgan in 2024 and receiver Matthew Golden in 2025, after the upcoming season.

The same could be true of picks that have come later in the draft. There are a lot of good players. Javon Bullard, Edgerrin Cooper and Evan Williams are good players. Would anyone call them great? Not at this stage, at least.

The trade of Gary after a disappointing finish to his final season with the Packers is just another piece of evidence.

In some ways, the selection of Gary all those years ago is representative of the Packers as a whole under the current regime.

Gary was a good player in Green Bay, but he was never great.

Gutekunst and LaFleur have had good teams in Green Bay, but they have not been great.

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER