Cowboys' defender gets overdue tip of the hat
The Dallas Cowboys should thank their lucky stars daily for defensive coordinator Dan Quinn whose turnaround of the defense has catapulted the team to be one of the league's best. Quinn came in 2021, and one of his first draft picks was defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa in that year's NFL Draft. It's turned out good […]
The Dallas Cowboys should thank their lucky stars daily for defensive coordinator Dan Quinn whose turnaround of the defense has catapulted the team to be one of the league's best.
Quinn came in 2021, and one of his first draft picks was defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa in that year's NFL Draft. It's turned out good for the Cowboys as Odighizuwa has played in 33 games with 29 starts at the 3-tech.
Odighizuwa plays on a defense with All-Pros Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs plus a seasoned veteran like DeMarcus Lawrence so he'll be hard-pressed to get any praise. However, NFL.com isn't overlooking Odighizuwa as they named him one of the league's most underappreciated players this week.
In his second pro season, Odighizuwa had an average pass-rush get-off of 0.96 seconds, per NGS, ranking 11th among defensive tackles. He piled up 26 stops in run defense and 31 pressures as a pass rusher. That latter figure is more than the combined pressures of all other Cowboys defensive tackles (30). He also single-handedly outproduced his Dallas DT cohorts in sacks (four to three). Odighizuwa feels like an exceptional fit in Dan Quinn's defense.
Odighizuwa was a ways behind in stops against the run as a rookie with 16 but had more pressures (37) and hurries (28). He did see an increase in total tackles (43), tackles for loss (8), and sacks (4) in 2022 to his credit.
He hit a rookie wall a few years back, but Odighizuwa has been consistent besides that by using his wrestling background to get great leverage and power from his lower body. Odighizuwa also has a quick first step once the ball is snapped and he can even slide outside and play some 5-tech if need be.
Slowly but surely, Odighizuwa has become an important link on the defensive chain in Dallas.
