Skip to main content
Join Now

Cowboys' Rashan Gary on replacing Micah Parsons: 'I don't look at it as trading places'

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones03/12/26brianjones_93

The Dallas Cowboys have traded for edge rusher Rashan Gary, but he is not trying to be what Micah Parsons was for the franchise. After the trade was made official this week, Gary shared his thoughts on replacing Parsons, who was traded to the Green Bay Packers before the start of the 2025 season.

“I don’t look at it as trading places. I’m coming here to be me and be the impact that the Cowboys need,” he said, per Todd Archer of ESPN. Gary also said that he and Parsons texted each other after the trade was reported, but the two have not spoken.

The Cowboys traded a 2027 fourth-round draft pick to the Green Bay Packers for Gary. Green Bay selected Gary in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and he became one of the team’s top defenders.

In 106 games with 74 starts, Gary recorded 46 tackles for loss, 46.5 sacks, seven forced fumbles, and eight fumble recoveries. He was selected to his first Pro Bowl in 2024 after tallying 47 tackles, nine tackles for loss, and 7.5 sacks. In 2025, when he was teammates with Parsons, Gary recorded 45 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and 7.5 sacks.

Rashan Gary reacts to joining the Cowboys

“When I got the call, my emotions — they were everywhere,” Gary told Nicole Hutchison of DallasCowboys.com about the trade. “It’s sort of surreal, at the same time, just understanding the connections that I have here on the coach of staff. It just made it feel like my second home, especially with my family being here. It was just a great experience.”

Gary also shared his thoughts on joining a defense led by defensive coordinator Christian Parker, who was on the Packers coaching staff in 2019 and 2020. “Yeah, there’s just this whole experience and everything the Cowboys organization is putting together —
I’m happy to be a part of it,” he said. “I’m happy to be a part of the start of some change, in the right way. And the guys that you named, and especially being able to come back and play with a guy that I know, and just his work ethic and what the game of football means to [Clark], it means the same to me.”

In Micah Parsons’ first season with the Packers, he recorded 41 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and 12.5 sacks in 14 games. In Week 15 against the Denver Broncos, Parsons tore his ACL and was out for the rest of the year.