Cowboys free agency: Osa Odighizuwa projected to earn over $21M per year

Osa Odighizuwa may be out of the Cowboys’ price range.

Time will tell whether or not the Dallas Cowboys are more active than usual in free agency. In case you haven’t been paying attention and still believe them to be aggressive in this area of roster construction, that has not been the case for a very long time.

It does seem that more people are catching on to the Cowboys’ M.O. in this area, although one of their own in Micah Parsons recently challenged them to act differently. Parsons called for the front office to be more aggressive this offseason, and part of the reason he did is likely because he doesn’t want to see one particular teammate leave.

In addition to needing some outside help the Cowboys have a very talented player set to his the open market in defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa. Odighizuwa may have garnered more national attention over the last four years if not for sharing a draft class with Parsons, but people have really picked up on how good he is as of late. Those people also believe that he is in line for a big payday.

Osa Odighizuwa is projected to earn $21M per year

We still have a few weeks to go until free agency fully begins in the NFL, but between now and then the idle hands across the league will do everything they can to anticipate it.

Lately there has been talk about Odighizuwa and the projected deal he will get in free agency, something we added to our news roundup last week, but talks are getting a bit louder.

The great Bob Sturm shared PFF’s projection for Odighizuwa on Sunday and it is seismic. PFF believes Odighizuwa will hit $21M per year when it is all said and done.

To be fair, PFF actually believes Odighizuwa will eclipse $21M per year which is really saying something. The state of the defensive tackle position in the NFL lends itself to his advantage, and being on the open market in a world of free enterprise suggests that he will be very happy soon enough.

We can all have, and do obviously, thoughts on how the Cowboys should be more aggressive in free agency, but this might be a bit rich if we are being honest. Odighizuwa has, as noted, been a great player for the team, but this is a lot of money to consider handing out, especially with the Parsons extension looming and hope for aggression elsewhere.

For what it’s worth, things can always be done and figured out, but it seems like Odighizuwa has played his last game for the Cowboys if we are being honest with ourselves. Add in the fact that Dallas’ first thought about this deal is how incredible of a compensatory pick they may get as a result of it, the math is all pointing in one particular direction.