{"id":219663,"date":"2025-02-27T15:15:57","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T20:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=219663"},"modified":"2025-02-26T21:19:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T02:19:46","slug":"osa-odighizuwa-contract-free-agent-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/02\/27\/osa-odighizuwa-contract-free-agent-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The One Free Agent the Cowboys Must Extend"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most dynamic defensive players for the Cowboys is a guy who often gets overlooked. More exciting players tend to own all the attention. Although Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs<\/a> are important to the defense, they need much more. The Dallas Cowboys need to complete an Osa Odighizuwa contract as soon as they can.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why the Dallas Cowboys Need to Extend Osa Odighizuwa<\/strong><\/h2>\n

How Osa Odighizuwa is Dynamic and Not Easily Replaced<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Besides splash players, one of the biggest sore spots on the team is the lack of linemen depth. Luckily, the offensive side of the ball ended the season stronger<\/a> than they started. Yet, the lack of depth is even more amplified for the defensive line. The Cowboys stack great guys at EDGE with Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence, but that\u2019s pretty much it. Now though, Odighizuwa has shaken this D-Line up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s a run-stopper, not allowing opposing players to break the line easily. Weighing in at a lighter 280 pounds, Odighizuwa moves through big offensive linemen in order to create pressure. In both 2023 and 2024, Odighizuwa saw 9.5 stuffs while adding 4.5 sacks. He\u2019s smaller than most of the offensive line he defends against, but he holds his own. And no matter his assignment, he\u2019s successful. Similar to Parsons, Odighizuwa cycled through multiple defensive coordinators<\/a>. Yet, he managed to go up in total tackles every year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Biggest Problem with Releasing Odighizuwa<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Odighizuwa is a wonderful player. Letting him go might be what happens if Parsons eats up most of the cap space. But the Cowboys can\u2019t afford to let that happen. Defensive tackle cannot afford to lose depth. At the forefront is Mazi Smith. Smith hasn\u2019t managed to live up to expectations<\/a> as a first-round draft pick. He\u2019s still finding his footing and confidence in the league. There\u2019s still plenty of time and room for him to develop, but he isn\u2019t Odighizuwa. Coming in at over 330 pounds, Smith\u2019s size makes him a different kind of DT.<\/span><\/p>\n

Behind those two isn\u2019t much. Linval Joseph, an addition during training camp in 2024<\/a>, suited the defense run by Mike Zimmer. However, Matt Eberflus is now the defensive coordinator<\/a>. He might want more defensive tackles with Odighizuwa\u2019s size and speed. Changing the defensive style could mean it\u2019s even more important to keep Odighizuwa as opposed to letting him walk in free agency.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Price of a Defensive Tackle<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Several other defensive tackles in the league see paychecks well over $15 million a season. Odighizuwa has the talent to match tons of them. Supposedly, <\/span>talks are already headed in a positive direction with a contract renewal<\/span><\/a>, but that could change. Because Parsons isn\u2019t already under contract, it might be a very tight budget to work with. Restructuring Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb should allow some wiggle room. But then, with more cash, it could be more preferable to pay for an even more coveted position.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible with the completely new coaching staff that the Cowboys will finally be able to properly develop their defensive line. Smith could be encountering a coach that really takes his game to the next level. The draft could pop in adding exciting talent to the roster. But all of that doesn\u2019t have the same ring without Osa Odighizuwa wearing the star.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Kevin Jairaj – Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most dynamic defensive players for the Cowboys is a guy who often gets overlooked. More exciting players tend to own all the attention. Although Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs are important to the defense, they need much more. The Dallas Cowboys need to complete an Osa Odighizuwa contract as soon as they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5238,"featured_media":219690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,54],"tags":[7422,7595],"class_list":["post-219663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cowboys","category-editorials","tag-dallas-cowboys-news","tag-osa-odighizuwa"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219663"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219691,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219663\/revisions\/219691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}