Blogging The Boys
The latest Dallas Cowboys news from the start of NFL Combine week.
It would be a great boost for new DC Matt Eberflus’ defense if the Cowboys could bring back DT Osa Odighizuwa long term.
On Sunday, Stephen Jones shared with The Dallas Morning News that Odighizuwa is up first when it comes to offseason negotiation priorities for the club.
Whereas last offseason focused on whether or not key members of the club would see extensions, as Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb approached the final year of their deals, this year is about guys who can sign anywhere.
Except for one big name. Micah Parsons finds himself in the same boat Prescott and Lamb did, staring at the final year of his current deal. The record-breaking edge rusher will play under the fifth-year option if no extension can be reached. But with that in their back pocket, the Cowboys are choosing to priortize someone they don’t have the luxury of waiting with.
DT Osa Odighizuwa is going to be well sought after if he hits the open market when the legal tampering period starts on March 10. Although he doesn’t have sacks in abundance, he creates QB pressures like few others from the defensive interior, and appears ready to blossom to greater heights.
With the contract Osa Odighizuwa is expected to command, the Cowboys are likely going to have to lose a player or two elsewhere on a still-thin defensive line to keep him.
It’s just one of the many reasons why Dallas Cowboys defensive end Chauncey Golston is free agency’s best value at defensive end. The soon-to-be fifth-year player is coming off the best year of his career that showed that he can make plays from multiple positions up in front. He finished 2024 with career-best numbers across the board that included 5.5 sacks and an interception off Jayden Daniels, the Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Golston won’t anchor anyone’s pass rush and he shouldn’t be expected to. He is, however, a chess piece that can be an effective rotational guy in the right spots. He can play outside and then kick inside on obvious passing downs. Injuries mostly forced him into playing a career-high 72% of defensive snaps after averaging about 30% through his first three years and he took full advantage of it, especially toward the end of the year where he recorded 3.5 of the aforementioned 5.5 sacks on the year.
He’s also an OK run defender, which nearly completes his resume. He can certainly stand to improve in that area by working on his overall awareness and the stack-and-shed aspect of his game....
