The Dallas Cowboys entered the offseason with the understanding they needed to do a complete makeover with their defense, which was 1 of the NFL’s worst in 2025.
Part of that makeover would need to include getting rid of a player at the 1 position they were set at — defensive tackle — where they somehow wound up with 3 highly paid stars in Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark, and Osa Odighizuwa.
It ended up being the player who had been with the Cowboys the longest and their only home-grown product who had to go, with Odighizuwa traded to the San Francisco 49ers on March 11 in exchange for a 2026 3rd-round pick.
ESPN’s Seth Walder singled out the Odighizuwa trade as the move he disliked most by the Cowboys in handing out his annual offseason grades.
“The Cowboys chose the wrong D-tackle to deal, as Odighizuwa is younger and makes less than Clark, plus is arguably better than the veteran at this stage of their respective careers,” Walder wrote on June 30. “The Cowboys would have gotten less draft capital for Clark, but I don’t think they fared particularly well with the Odighizuwa deal and wonder if they didn’t trade Clark, who was part of the Parsons deal, due to the optics.”
Optics, in this case, meant owner Jerry Jones would have essentially admitted he made a mistake by trading for Clark if they shipped him to another team, which wasn’t going to happen.
Cowboys Shopped Odighizuwa in Multiple Trades
By the time the 49ers became the destination for Odighizuwa, they’d already tried to send him to another team to land an elite edge rusher.
“The Cowboys are trading DT Osa Odighizuwa to the 49ers, multiple sources tell me,” NFL insider Jordan Schultz wrote on his official X account on March 11. “The disruptive Odighizuwa had 17 sacks, 34 TFLs and 2 forced fumbles during his tenure in Dallas. The Cowboys discussed trading Osa Odighizuwa to the Raiders in a package for Maxx Crosby last week before the deal ended up in Baltimore. Now it’s the 49ers who get him.”
The deal also rid the Cowboys of Odighizuwa’s massive salary — he signed a 4-year, $80 million contract extension in March 2025.
Dallas used the 3rd-round pick from the 49ers on a promising inside linebacker in Michigan’s Jaishawn Barham, who could end up being a starter sooner rather than later at the weakest position on the Cowboys’ defense.
Odighizuwa 1 of NFL’s Most Reliable Interior DL
The 49ers got 1 of the NFL’s most reliable defensive tackles in Odighizuwa, a 2021 3rd-round pick (No. 75 overall), who has yet to miss a regular-season game in 5 seasons.
While Odighizuwa hasn’t received the postseason honors as many of his contemporaries, you’d be hard-pressed to find a team that wouldn’t welcome him with open arms — he has 17-game averages of 44 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 7 TFL, and 16 QB hits over his career, including a whopping 23 QB hits each of the last 2 seasons.
“Osa Odighizuwa is a better player right now than Dexter Lawrence and the 49ers got Osa for a 3rd round pick,” NFL reporter Chase Senior wrote on his official X account on April 6. “The Giants are asking for a 1st or 2nd round pick for Lawrence. Great trade for San Francisco this offseason.”
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