There is built-in skepticism whenever the Dallas Cowboys make a trade, and with good reason. While Jerry Jones has signed off on some jarring deals over the years, it's also hard to deny that the national media looks for any reason to malign trades Dallas is involved in.
Sure enough, the Rashan Gary trade was not received well. While Gary is a good player, the Cowboys were eviscerated for trading a fourth-round pick for a player who seemingly was not long for Green Bay.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleHowever, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst made a telling revelation at the NFL's annual league meetings when he was asked if it was surprising he was able to get something in return for Gary.
"He's still a pretty young player, probably his best football is probably ahead of him. So not at all [surprised]. We weren't going to move on from him unless we were going to get something that made sense for us, and I think where we were headed as a football team, it made sense to do the deal with Dallas. They're getting a really good player."
That changes a lot.
The Dallas Cowboys' Rashan Gary trade looks much better after Brian Gutenkunst's revelation
Perhaps Gutekunst was simply posturing to the media to avoid throwing Gary under the bus. In the process, though, he validated the Cowboys’ decision to trade for him.
Most of the criticism stemmed from the likelihood that Gary would be released. Days before the trade, the former first-round pick shared a farewell message to the Green Bay Packers on Instagram, all but confirming he would be released. He swiftly deleted the post, claiming that his account was hacked.
Not exactly the most convincing excuse, but it’s all anyone had to go on. When paired with Gutekunst’s revelation, it seems a trade was the only way for Dallas to land Gary, and a fourth-round pick is absolutely fair compensation for a strong two-way edge defender.
Not to mention, Gary agreed to take a pay cut to facilitate the trade. After the deal became official, the Cowboys and Gary agreed to a reworked two-year, $32 million deal with $16 million guaranteed, lowering his 2026 cap hit by more than $14 million ($19.5 million to $5.4 million).
Gary's contract was a big sticking point for the national media. Rather than let the dust settle before making sweeping statements, the folks at ESPN and FS1 jumped the shark. In reality, the Cowboys were never going to trade for Gary without renegotiating his contract.
That’s not to say the trade is beyond criticism, but between Gary’s reworked deal and Gutekunst confirming the 28-year-old wasn’t going to hit the open market, it looks like a logical move for Dallas.