The Green Bay Packers had Thursday night off, but one of their biggest offseason decisions was back under the microscope.
Former Packers pass rusher Rashan Gary struggled to make his presence felt as the Dallas Cowboys suffered a 24-16 home loss to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football.
Gary’s quiet night caught the attention of Packers fans on social media, with some taking a victory lap over general manager Brian Gutekunst’s decision to move the former Pro Bowler in March.
“Rashan Gary has been every bit the impact player that Packers fans giggled he’d be,” ESPN Australia’s Laurie Horesh wrote on X.
Another Packers fan went even further after watching the Cowboys struggle to pressure rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels.
“Look at this Rashan Gary led pass rush dude,” he wrote on X, adding that Gutekunst “should win executive of the year simply off the fact he got a 4th round pick for the worst edge in football.”
Gary’s Cowboys Start Draws More Criticism
Gary’s night included an costly offsides penalty near the goal line.
With Tampa Bay inside the Dallas 10-yard line early in the second quarter, Gary jumped offsides and moved the Buccaneers to the 5. Bucky Irving scored on a short reception afterward to tie the game at 7.
Dallas allowed Daniels, an undrafted rookie making his second NFL start, to engineer the upset. One of the most glaring moments came in the third quarter, when Tampa Bay converted a third-and-21 following a Cowboys sack.
“Does Rashawn Gary not want to sack QBs? Like every time he looks to avoid the contact,” a fan wrote on X.
The reaction comes after an underwhelming first month in Dallas. Gary entered Thursday with eight tackles, one sack and three quarterback hits in four starts. His lone sack came in Dallas’ Week 4 victory over the Houston Texans.
That production stands out even more because Gary arrived as one of Dallas’ prominent offseason additions. The Cowboys reworked his contract after the trade into a two-year, $32 million agreement with $16 million guaranteed, via Over the Cap.
Packers Got Fourth-Round Pick for Gary
The criticism also presents Packers fans with cause to revisit a transaction that initially had some risk for Green Bay.
Gutekunst sent Gary to Dallas in March in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round draft pick. The Packers confirmed the deal on March 11 after Gary spent his first seven seasons in Green Bay.
The No. 12 overall selection in the 2019 NFL draft had built an impressive résumé with the Packers. Gary accumulated 46.5 sacks, 111 quarterback hits and 271 tackles across 106 regular-season appearances. He earned his first Pro Bowl selection after recording 7.5 sacks in 2024 and followed that with another 7.5-sack season in 2025.
Those numbers explained why Dallas was willing to surrender draft capital for Gary despite Green Bay appearing prepared to move on.
Five games into his Cowboys tenure, however, Gary has yet to consistently provide the disruptive presence Dallas hoped it had acquired.
Thursday’s loss only magnified the issue. The Cowboys fell to 2-3 despite entering as 8.5-point favorites against a Tampa Bay team that was 0-4 and without starting quarterback Baker Mayfield.
All in all, if Packers fans watched their former first-round pick on national television, the initial returns on that fourth-round pick suddenly look a little sweeter.
Former Packers $32 Million Pro Bowler Struggles in Cowboys’ Upset Loss