Last week, Rashan Gary appeared to bid farewell to the Green Bay Packers through an Instagram post. The message quickly raised eyebrows, though, when reports surfaced suggesting the post wasn’t actually made by Gary himself. Instead, it was believed that his account had been hacked. Fast forward a few days, and regardless of whether the account was compromised or not, the farewell has now turned out to be real.

On Monday, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported that the Packers are finalizing a deal to trade Gary to the Dallas Cowboys. In return, Green Bay will reportedly receive a fourth-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.

Gary has spent his entire career in Green Bay. But the 2025 season seemed to create some tension between the two sides. And now that the trade has gone through, the move also brings some notable financial implications.

After Gary completed his rookie contract, the Packers exercised the fifth-year option on his deal during the 2022 season. Then, following the 2022 campaign, when he recorded 32 combined tackles and six sacks, the team rewarded him with a four-year, $90 million extension ahead of the 2023 season.

Now, however, Gary is leaving Green Bay with two years still remaining on that contract.

The 28-year-old was set to earn $19.5 million in the 2026 season, with a cap hit of $28.021 million. By moving on from him, the Packers will take on $17.042 million in dead money. At the same time, the move opens up $10.9 million in cap space for 2026 and roughly $31 million in 2027.

Since this is a trade, the Packers can’t use a post-June 1 designation. It means the remaining financial impact hits their salary cap immediately.

For Dallas, the structure of the deal is fairly manageable. The Cowboys will take on Gary’s $19.5 million base salary for the 2026 season, which is not guaranteed, along with a potential $22.5 million cash payment in 2027, with a combined cap hit of $42 million for the next two seasons.

Because most of the guaranteed money was already paid by Green Bay, Dallas is essentially acquiring Gary on a “pay-as-you-go” structure. In practical terms, that gives the Cowboys flexibility. They can keep him if he performs well or move on later without taking on massive cap penalties.

Why did Jerry Jones trade for Rashan Gary?

“The only way to push more is for me to go borrow some of my future. Expect me to go borrow some of my future… want to do everything we possibly can to stop somebody and to basically win some third downs more than we did last year. So I think that would be the area that you would see me bust the budget,” Jerry Jones made it clear that he was willing to spend future capital on the defense during the NFL Scouting Combine.

Fast forward to now, and the Cowboys have done exactly that. Dallas has sent a 2027 fourth-round pick to the Packers in exchange for Rashan Gary.

Gary’s arrival in Dallas essentially fills the Cowboys’ need at edge rusher. A hole that opened up after the franchise traded Micah Parsons to Green Bay.

The 28-year-old defensive end spent all seven seasons of his career with the Packers. During that stretch, he recorded 46.5 sacks and 271 combined tackles, while also earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2024. In 2025, Gary started 15 games and finished with 7.5 sacks, 20 quarterback hits, seven tackles for loss, and a forced fumble.

Still, the 2025 season reportedly brought some tension between Gary and the Packers. Reports suggested that, despite Gary never recording fewer than five sacks in any of the last six seasons, the team was not fully satisfied with his production relative to the size of his contract.

Now, he gets a fresh start in Dallas.

Gary will also reunite with former Packers teammate Kenny Clark, adding another familiar presence to the Cowboys’ defensive front. More importantly, his arrival gives Dallas immediate help in the pass-rush department.

For Gary, it’s a new chapter after seven years in Green Bay. For the Cowboys, it’s another step in what has clearly become a major defensive rebuild.