Grading the trade: Cowboys send Osa Odighizuwa to the 49ers in a move that raises a serious concern
The Dallas Cowboys are sending one of their top defensive players to an NFC foe. But why?
Well, they did it. After conflicting reports on Osa Odighizuwa’s future emerged earlier in the week, the Dallas Cowboys are indeed trading him.
Odighizuwa is being traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange of a 2026 third-round pick, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Specifically, it’s overall pick No. 92 headed to the Cowboys.
Let’s break down the trade and grade it. We’ll start with the logic behind it.
The logic behind trading Osa
It’s pretty simple, really. The Cowboys owed a combined $63.5 million to defensive tackles Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams, and Osa Odighizuwa. That’s too much money for the defensive tackle room, and it makes sense to offload some of it.
Additionally, questions about Odighizuwa’s fit emerged when the new scheme under defensive coordinator Christian Parker confirmed he plans to play “one gap and a half” defense in 2026. A “one gap” approach would likely be better for Odighizuwa.
But while the deal makes sense, I have serious questions and concerns about it.
The biggest concern about Odighizuwa trade
My biggest concern is the Odighizuwa ultimately becomes in nothing but a Day 2 rookie in 2026.
The Cowboys are getting a third-round pick in return, which is nice considering Dallas had no Day 2 pick before the deal. However, for a team that’s been talking about “busting the budget” because they believe they’re close to being a contender, how much of an impact can we expect from a third-round rookie?
Not a lot.
In other words, if the Cowboys manage to trade the new pick for another proven starter, I’ll feel much better about parting ways with Osa. If they hold it until April comes around to get a rookie that’s unlikely to even start, I won’t feel much better.
A good option the Cowboys could target with their newly-acquired third-round pick, for instance, is Pittsburgh Steelers LB Patrick Queen.
Grading the trade
I hate to do this, but I’ll do a temporary grade.
There’s no way to sugarcoat that the Cowboys are worse without Odighizuwa than they are with him. Until they do something with the resources from parting ways with one of their better defenders—draft capital, cash, and salary cap space—this is a negative move. And it will be graded like that.
Hopefully, however, we get to revise this initial grade later on.
FINAL GRADE: C–
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