While Monday marked the opening of the legal tampering period for unrestricted free agents, the Dallas Cowboys opted to go in a different direction with their first move of the day, engaging in yet another trade with none other than the Green Bay Packers to acquire edge rusher Rashan Gary.
What's interesting about this situation -- and it's the aspect that has led some to opine on how Jerry Jones got fleeced -- is that Gary, who has two years remaining on his contract, was set to be released when the new league year officially begins on Wednesday, as those remaining two years were going to cost the Packers a total of $42 million against the salary cap.
But instead of waiting for the seven-year veteran to hit the open market, thus running the risk of losing him, the Cowboys opted to just go ahead and make the deal, ultimately sending a fourth-round selection in the 2027 NFL Draft to the Packers in return.
As one would imagine, plenty of pundits have offered up letter grades on this deal. And while some have basically called it even, plenty of others, as mentioned above, are of the opinion that the Cowboys got ripped off, with one such example being Jared Dubin of CBS Sports, who gave Green Bay an A- but only a C+ to Dallas.
CBS Sports NFL analyst believes the Packers easily won the Rashan Gary trade with the Cowboys
Here's what Lewis had to say on the Cowboys' side of things during his assessment of the Gary trade:
"Dallas badly needed help on the edge, and Gary will provide some of it. The cost to acquire a player who was probably going to be released was not nothing, though, and Gary's contract is still pretty sizable. He's probably not worth $39 million over two years at this stage of his career -- even if none of it is guaranteed. So for now, the Cowboys get a decent but not great grade on the deal. If they rework Gary's contract to make his cap hit more palatable, however, the grade could rise."
And here were his thoughts on Green Bay:
"Green Bay was probably going to cut Gary if it did not find a trade partner for him before the start of the new league year. Getting a fourth-round pick, even a year out, is nice work. The trade costs the Packers the same amount of dead money and creates the same amount of cap space as would have a release, but they get a draft pick for their troubles. That's some pretty nice work, even if they didn't get a ton of compensation."
Some of what he's saying is true, of course, but he's got the Cowboys coming off like big losers in this deal. To his credit, I suppose, Lewis did say that Dallas would get a better grade by restructuring Gary's contract, which will undoubtedly happen. But still, this isn't as one-sided as his marks reflect.
Now, when the Cowboys gave up a fourth-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers to acquire backup quarterback Trey Lance, they got fleeced. And the same can be said for giving a fourth-rounder to the Carolina Panthers for wide receiver Jonathan Mingo.
But a fourth-rounder for a pass rusher who made the Pro Bowl not all that long ago and has 46.5 career sacks to his name? That's not nearly as bad, even with his inflated salary?
Is Micah Parsons walking back through the door? Of course not. But Gary is a better edge player than anyone the Cowboys currently have on the roster, at least at the time of this writing.
Maybe that's not saying much, but an improvement is an improvement, and at least Jerry Jones is continuing to be aggressive, much like he was in the trades that brought George Pickens and Quinnen Williams to town.
Maybe Gary proves to be just as valuable as those two, and maybe he doesn't. But again, at least the Cowboys are making moves, which is more than can be said for some other NFC contenders at this point.