After trade from Cowboys, 49ers DT Osa Odighizuwa ready for his best NFL season
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Osa Odighizuwa was traded to the San Francisco 49ers for a third-round pick in March.
- Odighizuwa said the 49ers scheme removes his "handcuffs" and could enable his best season.
- He signed a four-year, $80 million deal in Dallas and has three years left with the 49ers.
Ever since the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys traded NFC championship victories in the early 1990s, the two storied franchises have maintained one of the NFL’s fiercest rivalries.
Defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa switched sides in March when the Cowboys traded to the Niners for a third-round draft pick.
Reflecting on the trade Tuesday on The Richard Sherman Podcast, Odighizuwa didn’t hide his feelings: The reunion with his former squad won’t be pretty — at least, he hopes not.
“It’s a game that you got a picture, and you’re throwing the knife at the picture,” Odighizuwa said of the rivalry on the podcast. “Now, I just take down the picture and I put up the other picture, and I’m on the other side of it. But the energy is exactly the same.”
When Sherman later said there would be “fireworks” when Odighizuwa travels back to Dallas to face his former team in a Week 10 matchup Nov. 15, the defensive tackle replied simply: “For sure.”
The trade came one year after Odighizuwa signed a four-year, $80 million extension with Dallas after reportedly turning down more money to remain with the Cowboys. Odighizuwa, 27, is under contract with the 49ers for the next three seasons, with salary cap hits of $16.3 million in 2026 and $20 million in both 2027 and 2028.
After spending his first five NFL seasons with Dallas, Odighizuwa said he initially felt “hurt” by the trade but quickly embraced the opportunity to join a San Francisco team that has won at least one playoff game in five of the past seven seasons and reached two Super Bowls.
“I had to quickly come to a realization that (the trade) didn’t diminish my value at all as a player,” Odighizuwa told Sherman. “It just means that my value was needed more in San Francisco than it was in Dallas.”
In five years with the Cowboys, Odighizuwa appeared in all but one game, during his rookie season. He amassed 216 tackles — 34 for a loss — and 17 sacks in that time, becoming one of the cornerstones of the Cowboys defense.
However, Odighizuwa told Sherman that he hasn’t “scratched the surface” of his potential.
“I feel like I’m getting some handcuffs taken off of me a little bit to be able to have one of the better years that I’ve had against the run, if not the best year that I’ve had,” Odighizuwa said. “I’m looking forward to being able to make plays in this scheme.”
Odighizuwa said the adaptability he has seen in the 49ers defensive scheme is especially important to the “handcuffs” coming off. Niners defensive line coach Kris Kocurek, he said, has particularly inspired confidence after watching all of his film from 2025 ahead of their first meeting and working with him on different parts of his game.
“When you have to do the same thing all the time, you’re predictable. And when you’re predictable in football, you’re very beatable,” Odighizuwa said. “You have to be able to keep people honest and be able to do different things.”
One thing Odighizuwa didn’t see much of with the Cowboys was playoff success. The Cowboys reached the postseason three times during his tenure but lost in the wild-card round twice, including a 23-17 loss to the 49ers following the 2021 season.
Odighizuwa praised the Niners “winning mentality,” and said their recent success made it exciting for him to join.
“I feel like I’m part of the cavalry, like I’m not coming to a place that’s rebuilding anything at all. I’m just coming and adding something to a great team,” Odighizuwa said. “It’s kind of awesome.”
