https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js
The Dallas Cowboys got a late start to an important offseason task. Sound familiar? This time, Dallas waited a week to admit to themselves there was no future with Mike McCarthy as head coach, letting their leader of the last five seasons go on Monday. McCarthy’s contract expired last week, but instead of moving on, Dallas blocked him from interviewing with the Chicago Bears for their opening, and didn’t pursue any of the coordinators from the No. 1 seeds when they had a window.
Waiting too long to get moving is a symptom for this club, often waiting weeks to get into free agency while the rest of the league reshuffles their rosters. That could very well be the case again in 2025, and if so, Dallas could lose out on not just external free agents, but in-house ones as well.
The Cowboys have a lengthy list of players who are out of contract, like McCarthy, who could be pursued by other organizations. Chief amongst those will be 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 set his career high in sacks, with 4.5, in 2024. His strength has always been in disruption, consistently ranking among the best defensive tackles in advanced analytics. And that will likely make him a top target for at least a handful of teams. ESPN thinks one of those will be the Arizona Cardinals, as they predicted Odighizuwa as a major free agent addition in the desert.
Big prediction for the offseason: In the third year of the Jonathan Gannon-Monti Ossenfort era, a playoff berth is desperately needed, so the Cardinals will start getting aggressive with their cap space. They will add both Josh Sweat, an old friend of Gannon’s from his Eagles days, and Osa Odighizuwa to a defensive line sorely in need of immediate contributors. — Solak
Odighizuwa ranked No. 30 on Pro Football Focus’ list of top pending free agents. 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.
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. Losing Odighizuwa to a contract of this size would put Dallas in line for a third-round compensatory pick in 2026 if they came out on the plus side of the ledger in free agents lost vs signed.