The Dallas Cowboys are still struggling to understand what it means to be actual players in free agency, but there’s one area of the talent acquisition game that they have embraced wholeheartedly over recent years. For a long time, the Cowboys didn’t do much on the NFL trade front, but in the last five years they have certainly whet their appetite, both in bringing players in and shipping them out.
Over the first week of free agency, the Cowboys engineered three different trades. In the first, they brought in an edge rusher to help fill a deep, glaring hole on their roster. In the last two, they jettisoned two interior defenders who didn’t quite fit the plans of new defensive coordinator Christian Parker. How did the NFL world view the compensation attached to each trade? Here’s a closer look.
Cowboys acquire Edge Rashan Gary for 2027 fourth-round pick
NFL.com: Cowboys Grade: B | Packers Grade: A- (prior to Gary’s salary reduction)
I can see the validity of this trade from both sides.
The Cowboys desperately needed edge-rush help, and while Gary’s play has slipped lately, he could find rejuvenation in Dallas. Meanwhile, the Packers were ready to move on and received a solid return.
Gary has generated 46.5 career sacks and can be a load on the edge, though he has not been as explosive in recent years. Heading into his eighth NFL season, Gary is also solid against the run, which gives new Cowboys coordinator Christian Parker flexibility as he retools the defense.
Pro Football Focus: Cowboys Grade: Average | Packers Grade: Good
2025 PFF Grade: 68.92025 PFF WAR: 0.05Cowboys Deal Grade: AveragePackers Deal Grade: Good
Gary’s PFF pass-rush grade has dropped consistently in each of the past four seasons, so the Cowboys are unlikely to be acquiring a major pass-rush threat. However, he has remained an above-average run defender and still racked up 60 quarterback pressures last season. There is still some upside for Dallas, which sent a 2027 fourth-round draft pick for the 28-year-old. It’s even better business for the Packers after Gary announced his departure days ago on Instagram before reports indicated his account was hacked.
ESPN: Cowboys Grade: D+ | Packers Grade: A (prior to salary reduction)
After missing out on Maxx Crosby (a good thing, in my view), the Cowboys opted for another edge rusher trade — albeit a player in a totally different tier. Gary is heading to Dallas to join up with old teammate Kenny Clark and bolster the Cowboys’ pass rush in the post-Micah Parsons era.
The cost for Dallas is steep relative to the player they are getting. Gary was once viewed as a very promising young pass rusher. And in 2022, he looked like a player who was ready to fulfill that potential, delivering a 23% pass rush win rate at edge and 6.0 sacks in nine games before tearing his ACL. His numbers since then have never reached the same pace. And last season, despite playing with Parsons, Gary recorded just an 8% pass rush win rate at edge (18th percentile) and a 9% pressure rate (37th percentile), along with 7.5 sacks. His run stop win rate at edge was in the 60th percentile.
Gary, 28, can be a useful player for Dallas. But here’s the problem: The Cowboys dealt away a fourth-round pick for the right to pay Gary $19.5 million in cash this year, per OverTheCap (he’s owed $22.5 million in non-guaranteed money in 2027).
USA Today: Cowboys Grade: C | Packers Grade: A
Bleacher Report: Cowboys Grade: B+ | Packers Grade: C
Fox Sports: Cowboys Grade: B
Walter Football: Cowboys Grade: A | Packers Grade: B
Cowboys send DL Solomon Thomas to Tennessee Titans for late-round pick swap
NFL.com: Cowboys Grade: C+ | Titans Grade: C+
Pro Football Focus: Cowboys Grade: Average | Titans Grade: Average
2025 PFF Grade: 59.62025 PFF WAR: 0.03Titans PFF Deal Grade: AverageCowboys PFF Deal Grade: Average
Robert Saleh is once again reunited with a familiar face. Through nine NFL seasons, Thomas has earned a 60.0-plus PFF overall grade in just one season. It’s a depth move for the Titans, but it’s fair to wonder if it makes them any better. Meanwhile, Dallas saves some cap space in a pick-swap deal.
Bleacher Report: Cowboys Grade: C | Titans Grade: C
This is arguably the most inconsequential trade in NFL history involving a former third overall pick.
Per ESPN’s Dianna Russini, the Dallas Cowboys are shipping veteran defensive tackle Solomon Thomas to the Tennessee Titans. The teams will swap seventh-round picks.
Thomas has never come within a mile of living up to the pick the San Francisco 49ers spent on him in 2017—the 30-year-old has barely averaged two sacks a year and has never had more than five in a campaign.
It’s a bottom-of-the-roster depth move.
Walter Football: Cowboys Grade: B+ | TItans Grade: B-
Cowboys send DT Osa Odighizuwa to San Francisco 49ers for No. 92 pick
Bleacher Report: Cowboys Grade: A- | 49ers Grade: C+
On one hand, the 49ers acquired a really good player at an area of need. Odighizuwa has posted at least 40 tackles and three sacks in each of the past four seasons. While he hasn’t been named to a Pro Bowl, his talent level is right there.
On the other hand, a Day 2 pick is fairly substantial compensation. Odighizuwa also has a robust salary after signing a four-year, $80 million extension last year.
The cap-strapped Cowboys lose a good player, but between the compensation and shedding that salary (albeit a small amount in 2026 with a dead cap hit of $16 million), it made sense for a team with Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams on the roster.
NFL.com: Cowboys Grade: C+ | 49ers Grade: B+
I understand the Cowboys’ reasoning. I understand the logjam at defensive tackle. I understand the cost savings. I understand the desire to replenish some of the middle-round picks. But I don’t have to like it.
Odighizuwa brought juice to the Cowboys’ pass rush, had improved his tackling and is still under 30. His pressure rate was among the top at the position, and he still has room to grow. The contract wasn’t an albatross and was far less than they’d pay to a player of his caliber on the market now.
This trade feels like continued collateral damage from the Micah Parsons ordeal last season. Quinnen Williams is the centerpiece of the defensive interior, and while Kenny Clark might be a more ideal fit in the new scheme, the Cowboys traded the better player. Dallas still took on $16 million of dead money by trading the younger tackle. Of course, trading Clark would have returned less value than a third-rounder. They had to give to get something in return, but I recognize the Cowboys fans who are miffed at the move.
Pro Football Focus: Cowboys Grade: Average | 49ers Grade: Above Average
2025 PFF Grade: 65.92025 PFF WAR: 0.1649ers PFF Deal Grade: Above AverageCowboys PFF Deal Grade: Average
Odighizuwa, a consistently good interior pass rusher, is likely to make a bigger impact than any player at the position the 49ers could have selected in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft. He has earned a 70.0-plus PFF pass-rush grade and registered 50 or more pressures in each of the past four seasons. The Cowboys clear some cap space and get a decent return for a player whom they seemed set on trading, but they do now have a significant production gap to fill on the interior defensive line.
ESPN: Cowboys Grade: C+ | 49ers Grade: B (Someone should tell this evaluation about the 3-4 defense)
As for the Cowboys, there is something amusing about their quest to improve at defensive tackle. They used two massive trades — the Micah Parsons deal that netted them Kenny Clark and the acquisition of Quinnen Williams at the deadline — but are now opting to send away Odighizuwa, a good player and the youngest of the three.
I would actually argue that they are trading the wrong player. Odighizuwa is three years younger than Clark and outperformed him in both win rates and run stop rate last season. Last season, Odighizuwa’s pass rush win rate at defensive tackle ranked well ahead of Clark’s (62nd percentile). His pressure rate was higher, too, and Clark was well below average at run stop rate. And Clark costs almost $5 million more this year.
Granted, those discrepancies would have affected the return, but in a vacuum I would want to keep Odighizuwa as the player next to Williams.
USA Today: Cowboys Grade: B | 49ers Grade: B
Seems like everybody wins here, including Odighizuwa. The 49ers get a disruptor who’s capable of forcing quarterbacks off their spot and reducing the pressure on Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams to shoulder the load in the pass rush. The Cowboys recoup some nice draft capital for a player who might not have been an ideal fit in new coordinator Christian Parker’s scheme. And Odighizuwa gets to head to a team better positioned to unleash his style of play.
Fox Sports: Cowboys Grade: A | 49ers Grade: A
The Niners get an above-average starter in Odighizuwa, who fills a position of need in a big way. San Francisco loses its only third-round pick in the trade, but it has four fourth-round selections (Nos. 127, 133, 138 and 139), so it has the ammo to get back into the third round if it wants to.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, shed necessary salary at the defensive tackle spot (Quinnen Williams has a cap charge of $21.6 million, according to Over The Cap; Kenny Clark is at $12.7 million). Odighizuwa is owed $16.75 million in guaranteed salary in the upcoming season.
Dallas didn’t previously have a second- or third-round pick in the 2026 draft, and now gets the latter as part of this deal as well.
Walter Football: Cowboys Grade: B+ | 49ers Grade: B+
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Trade Grades: National outlets react to Cowboys Odighizuwa, Gary swaps
Reporting by K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
