The Dallas Cowboys got under the 2026 salary cap number of $301.2 million and added a sorely needed Day 2 draft pick in the 2026 NFL Draft with one move.
They traded 27-year-old defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to a historic NFC rival, the San Francisco 49ers, in exchange for a 2026 third-round draft pick (No. 92 overall), per CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones.
Dallas had a logjam at defensive tackle after trading for Green Bay Packers three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark as part of the Micah Parsons trade a week before the start of the 2025 season and then also trading for the New York Jets’ Quinnen Williams, a four-time Pro Bowler, at the trade deadline last season. CBS Sports asked new Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker how he planned to handle the play time for the three of them at his introductory press conference in February, and at the time, he felt it was manageable.
“I think you have different ways of doing that. Five-down [defensive linemen] is one of them. There are some different four-down structures you can do with that as well,” Parker said. “There’s six-down presentations you can do that with as well. So like I said earlier, the defensive line and then winning the game upfront is significant. So how we can change the math and get our best players on the field will always be a part of what we do.”
Despite not having any Pro Bowl selections, Odighizuwa has been one of the NFL’s best at getting after the quarterback the last two seasons. His 112 quarterback pressures are the third-most at the defensive tackle position since 2024 behind only Zach Allen’s 148 and Chris Jones’ 137. At 6-feet-2-inches tall and weighing 280 pounds, Parker and owner/general Jerry Jones made the decision that he was the odd man out. Clark, who stands at 6-feet-3-inches tall and weighs 314 pounds, is built more ideally to be the nose tackle in Parker’s 3-4 scheme with 4-3 spacing.
Plus, Parker and Clark had a relationship dating to when the former was a defensive quality control coach in Green Bay from 2019 to 2020. Dallas now has one pick on Day 2 of the draft after trading their second-round selection to the Jets for Williams and their third-round choice to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for wide receiver George Pickens.
The 49ers received a motivated Odighizuwa after ranking last in the NFL in sacks in 2025 with just 20 as a team. San Francisco’s 1.18 sacks per game ranked as the fewest by a playoff team all-time, per CBS Sports Research.
So who made out with a better grade in this trade? Check out our grades for both squads below.
San Francisco 49ers: B+
As noted above, the 49ers had a massive pass-rush need. That was especially true at the defensive tackle spot with San Francisco’s 49ers combining for just 1.5 sacks, 46 quarterback pressures and a 5.1% quarterback pressure rate in 2025. Those were all the fewest in each metric at the defensive tackle position among the league’s 32 teams.
Odighizuwa will provide a huge boost to that position in San Francisco, and parting with a third-round pick to fill that need is pretty good value. Between him turning 28 in August and having three years left on a four-year, $80 million contract, the 49ers made away with solid value. If this was a fourth-round pick or lower, the grade would have been in the A range.
Dallas Cowboys: C+
The Cowboys traded away a player under 30 on a productive contract to restock their draft capital and to reset their cap space. Moving Clark would have netted a lower return, but it probably would have made more sense for them to do that and then draft a bigger defensive tackle.
Dallas made this move out of desperation, and while Clark’s body is a better fit, Odighizuwa is a better player long term at this stage of their respective careers.
