The Dallas Cowboys continue to make moves, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Wednesday night brought the news that two defensive tackles – Osa Odighizuwa and Solomon Thomas – had been traded away.
The decision to trade Thomas makes sense. He only played on 37.85% of defensive snaps this past season, and his playing time decreased gradually following the trade for Quinnen Williams. There were already going to be very limited opportunities for him in 2026.
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Odighizuwa, on the other hand, was thought to be a starter/ key contributor on a remade defensive line.
New defensive coordinator Christian Parker comes from a scheme that makes heavy use of the penny front, which uses five-man fronts to overwhelm and confuse offensive lines. With the trio of defensive tackles – Odighizuwa, Williams, and Kenny Clark – the Cowboys had the perfect interior for that package.
Even in four man fronts, Odighizuwa has shown the positional flexibility in the past to still be an every down player. In four man base packages, Odighizuwa would have been an ideal big EDGE on the strong side, the type of player Vic Fangio has used – with the Eagles and other organizations – to help protect his nickel, freeing them up to fill against the run. And, of course, Odighizuwa was a natural fit as a 3-technique or 4i-technique in four-man nickel packages, with Clark likely subbing out in those situations.
Odighizuwa has also been a consistently good player. Since coming into the league, he’s had three different defensive coordinators in five seasons and never finished with fewer than three sacks or 38 pressures. Each of the last two years, both of which saw Odighizuwa learning a new scheme, he finished top five among interior defenders in pressures.
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It’s true that Odighizuwa never piled up the stats in categories that make it onto SportsCenter, but anyone who watches defensive football closely knew that he was one of the better interior defenders in the league. His ability to pressure the quarterback regardless of scheme is proof of that.
Not only was Odighizuwa a valuable player, but he also meant a lot to the Cowboys on the personal side. Since the trade, his teammates have publicly expressed their love for Odighizuwa and how much they’ll miss him. Known for his loving personality, Odighizuwa also took a team friendly deal to re-up in Dallas this past offseason, stating at the time he wanted to make Dallas his home.
And in the end, that loyalty and selflessness was tossed out the door in favor of a third-round pick. What message does that send to the rest of this locker room?
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There’s the argument that this is just the Cowboys doing what it takes to give Parker what he needs on defense. The argument has already been made that Odighizuwa wasn’t a fit for Parker’s scheme, which doesn’t really make sense if Parker intends to run anything similar to what he helped run in Philadelphia.
It especially doesn’t make sense if Parker was telling the truth in his introductory press conference, when he spoke about crafting his scheme around his players. If Parker wants to tailor his defense to the talent he has to work with, why would the Cowboys trade away a player who was top five in pressures each of the last two years? Surely someone with Parker’s mindset could find a way to build his scheme around such a consistent pass rusher.
Therein lies the biggest problem with this trade: the why.
If Odighizuwa really was traded away for not being a scheme fit, then Parker is not the coach he billed himself to be. And if this move didn’t have to do with scheme fit, why are the Cowboys opting to weaken their defensive tackle room after years of struggling at that exact position?
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Only time will tell how the Dallas defense actually performs in 2026, and there are still plenty of moving parts in reshaping this unit. But for right now, this trade seems to have all the early signs of a big mistake.
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