The Dallas Cowboys have just two games remaining before their 2024 season mercifully comes to an end. With seven wins on the season, the Cowboys have a shocking chance to finish above .500, in an attempt to salvage a season that’s been lost since October.
Regardless one what their final win total is, they will not be making he 2024 playoffs and thus have offseason topics on the brain. That is, if the front office is wise. With 20 unrestricted free agents and seven more with partial rights, Dallas has plenty of decisions they’ll need to make between the final whistle next Sunday and the beginning of the 2025 league year.
Chief amongst those will be whether or not they attempt and are successful at re-signing defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa. The 2021 third-round pick doesn’t have a high number of career sacks, but he’s been a career disruptor and teams will more than likely be in pursuit of someone with his skillset.
Odighizuwa has already matched his career high in sacks, with four, with two games to go. His strength has always been in disruption, consistently ranking among the best defensive tackles in advanced analytics.
And as such, Odighizuwa ranks No. 30 on Pro Football Focus’ list of top pending free agents.
Odighizuwa is another interior pass-rusher with very strong underlying metrics that haven’t quite translated to major sack production through nearly four seasons. While the Dallas Cowboys’ season has fallen off the rails as injuries have piled up, Odighizuwa has stayed the course and played some of the best ball of his career over the second half of the campaign. The 2021 third-round pick is quietly one of the more underrated defenders across the entire NFL.
As part of their exercise, PFF finds a previous free agent to compare to. Odighizuwa’s comp is Nnamdi Madubuike, who signed with Baltimore last offseason on a four year, $98 million contract.
Madubuike is a stronger run defender, but Odighizuwa has better pass rush metrics, which is normally an impetus for a bigger piece of the pie.
Per PFF, Madubuike signed for 9.6% of the 2024 cap. With NFL teams preparing for a 2025 salary cap between $265 million and $275 million, that percentage would put Odighizuwa’s APY at $26.4 million.
A four-year deal would total $105.6 million on the open market.