Rashan Gary arrived in Green Bay in 2019 as a first-round pick carrying big expectations. He didn’t fully live up to them across seven seasons with the Packers, but he built a solid résumé anyway — 46.5 career sacks and a Pro Bowl nod. Now, with training camp about a week away, Gary is setting a new bar for himself in a new city.
The Packers traded Gary to the Dallas Cowboys in March for a 2027 fourth-round pick, and simply contributing isn’t enough for him anymore. He wants to be the difference-maker on a defense that’s betting heavily on him.
“I’m trying to be great,” Gary told Joseph Hoyt of the Dallas Morning News. “That’s my thing. I’m not just here to say I played in the NFL. I want to be a dominant factor. When I hang up my cleats, I want people to say, ‘Man, Rashan Gary was blah, blah, blah,’ whatever the case may be. It’s my legacy. It’s what I’m going to leave my kids. It’s bigger than me now.”
A Defense Built Around Him
Gary didn’t land in Dallas by accident. The Cowboys spent the offseason overhauling their defense from top to bottom, and he’s one of the centerpieces.
Dallas pulled defensive coordinator Christian Parker away from the rival Philadelphia Eagles. The front office also traded for linebacker Dee Winters and signed safety Jalen Thompson and cornerback Cobie Durant to patch up the secondary. Both of the team’s first-round picks went to defense as well, with the Cowboys taking safety Caleb Downs and pass rusher Malachi Lawrence.
Along with Downs, Gary is probably the biggest name to walk through the building this offseason. But turning that投 into results means reversing a trend that’s followed him for years.
| Season | Pressure Rate | Sack Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 19.0% | 2%+ |
| 2023 | Declined | 2%+ |
| 2024 | Declined | Below 2% |
| 2025 | 12.1% | 1.9% |
Gary posted a respectable 12.1% pressure rate in 2025, but that number has dropped every year since his career-best 19% mark in 2022. His sack rate fell below 2% for a second straight season, after three straight years above that line.
Trying to Lead a Locker Room That Needs It
None of that seems to be weighing on him. Gary sounds like a player who’s found a new gear with a new challenge in front of him — one that includes helping Dallas snap a two-year playoff drought. If he can step into a leadership role and help push this defense back into contention, Cowboys fans will have plenty to say about his legacy soon enough.
With training camp roughly a week and a half out, Gary is already setting the tone for his new teammates.
“You see what football brings to you, then you understand that you can’t play this game lightly,” Gary said. “You can never cheat the game, and I’m a big believer in that and the football gods. So just understanding the things that football has brought to me and how it’s changed my life. I owe it all, and that’s all I ask of you.”
That’s the message Gary is carrying into Frisco: respect the game, or the game won’t respect you back. Whether it translates into sacks and playoff wins is the question the Cowboys are paying him to answer.
