First things first, and that’s the fact there is a player included in the package of two first-round picks, one for 2026 and another in 2027, as defensive tackle Kenny Clark heads to Dallas, he does so for a team in dire need of solving the equation at nose tackle. What’s unfortunate for Clark is the simple fact anything short of a Hall of Fame stint with the Cowboys will be viewed outside of the building as insufficient simply because he is tied to the Parsons trade.
That notwithstanding, Clark does upgrade the 1-tech position.
As a quick but related aside, the two first-round picks may or may not work in the Cowboys’ favor, because the Packers, who were already contenders and walked all over Dallas at AT&T Stadium in a postseason humiliation, are now objectively better on paper and that means the 2026 first-round pick could very well end up being later on Day 1 — effectively making it more of a second-rounder.
If the Cowboys want a high pick on Day 1 in either of the two years to come, they’ll need the Packers to somehow implode.
Now, back to Clark.
A former first-round pick of the Packers in 2016, Clark has since earned three Pro Bowl nods, as recently as 2023, and has a whopping 126 starts and 140 overall games under his belt — only one year removed from racking up 7.5 sacks (career high) and 44 combined tackles with nine tackles for loss (career high), three pass deflections (t-career high), two forced fumbles (t-career high) and two fumble recoveries (t-career high) through 17 starts.
Also highly durable, Clark has missed only eight games in his entire nine-year NFL career, and the Cowboys now control his rights through the 2027 season, his cap hit for 2025 being just $3 million before ballooning to $21.5 million in 2026 — though the Cowboys can avoid that with a restructure and instead save $9.6 million with that trigger pull.