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Free Agency: Cowboys to slap $25.1 million franchise tag on NFL's top DT target by Tuesday
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- Free Agency: Cowboys to slap $25.1 million franchise tag on NFL's top DT target by Tuesday
The Cowboys may have decided that Osa Odighizuwa is worth the price tag currently attached to him.
The team is reportedly planning to use the franchise tag on the 26-year-old defensive tackle, says ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, unless they can come to a more permanent agreement by Tuesday's league-mandated deadline. Odighizuwa is slated to be one of the top free agents on the free market this offseason.
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Based on current salary cap numbers for 2025, the franchise tag for a defensive tackle will be $25.1 million. If used on Odighizuwa, it would bind him to the Cowboys for one more season at that price, but the two sides can also continue to work on a longer-term deal.
Odighizuwa, a third-round draft pick out of UCLA, posted career-high numbers in 2024: 47 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and 23 QB hits while starting every game of the regular season.
The Dallas Morning News points out that there are 14 defensive tackles across the NFL averaging at least $20 million per season; Odighizuwa is thought to be seeking figures in that range, given his production.
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The Cowboys last used the franchise tag in 2023, on running back Tony Pollard . That $10.1 million tag bought Dallas and Pollard one more year together; he signed with Tennessee in 2024. The club used the same strategy to get one more season- at a cost of $10.09 million- out of tight end Dalton Schultz in 2022.
Prior to that, the Cowboys front office used the tag in back-to-back years on quarterback Dak Prescott (2020, 2021) and defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence (2018, 2019). In both cases, the player spent the first year on the tag, then saw the second tag used merely as a placeholder while long-term contract talks were finalized.
The Cowboys have until 3 p.m. local time Tuesday to place the franchise tag on Odighizuwa or come to terms on a new deal with him. If they do neither, he becomes a free agent and can begin negotiating with other teams as early as Mar. 10.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys will use franchise tag if needed to keep DT Osa Odighizuwa
