It’s pretty difficult to fly under the radar as a member of America’s Team. The Dallas Cowboys spend the entire calendar year in the spotlight. Even when there’s nothing actually happening with the team, the networks find a way to shoehorn the Cowboys into the conversation.
There’s good reason, of course. The Cowboys drive ratings. The most popular franchise in the NFL is also the most hated, with very few fans not wanting to witness and root for their preferred result. So with that, there’s a certain level of celebrity most players achieve and often those players are considered (by some) overrated based on how much they are talked about.
But Osa Odighizuwa is a different thing altogether. On a defense with the best defender in the game in Micah Parsons, and two corners who have set NFL milestones in Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland, it’s easy to overlook Odighizuwa. That’s especially true because he hasn’t accrued a ton of sacks in his career.
But make no mistake, offensive linemen are well aware of how good he is, as explained by Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar in his compilation of the most underrated player on all 32 clubs.
Micah Parsons is the superstar of the Cowboys’ defensive fronts, but it’s unwise to underestimate Odighizuwa, who Dallas selected in the third round of the 2021 draft out of UCLA. Odighizuwa has never had a season in which he’s created less than 38 total pressures, which he did in each of his first two NFL seasons, and he upped that to 44 pressures (along with three sacks) last season.
Whether he’s playing in the B-gaps or over the tackles, Odighizuwa has become a consistent, dynamic pressure creator who’s especially conversant with taking interior offensive linemen, walking them back into the pocket, and dumping them on the ground on the way to the quarterback.
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