Why Cowboys' Osa Odighizuwa, who outproduced Jalen Carter in 2024, needs to be discussed among NFL's top DTs

FRISCO, Texas -- Perception isn't always reality, and that's certainly the case in the National Football League in the offseason, a time when many sit back and evaluate who the league's best players are at every position. 

ESPN has been polling coaches, scouts and executives around the league to rank the top 10 players at all positions while also including honorable mentions. Despite Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa ranking second in the entire league in quarterback pressures (60) at the age of 26 in 2024, he wasn't listed in the top 10 or honorable mention category on the defensive tackles list. He was instead listed among six players in the "also receiving votes category." 

Top 10 NFL DTs as voted on by NFL coaches, scouts, execs

via ESPN

1. Dexter Lawrence II (NYG)
2. Chris Jones (KC)
3. Jalen Carter (PHI)
4. Jeffery Simmons (TEN)
5. Quinnen Williams (NYJ)
6. Leonard Williams (SEA)
7. Nnamdi Madubuike (BAL)
8. DeForest Buckner (IND)
9. Vita Vea (TB)
10. Cameron Heyward (PIT)

Honorable mentions: Christian Wilkins (LV), Derrick Brown (CAR), Zach Allen (DEN), Zach Sieler (MIA), Kobie Turner (LAR)

Others receiving votes: Kenny Clark (GB), Alim McNeill (DET), Ed Oliver (BUF), Daron Payne (WAS), Calijah Kancey (TB), Osa Odighizuwa (DAL)

Given Odighizuwa's place on this list versus quarterback pressure numbers from 2024, his perception around the league clearly doesn't align with his ability to rush the passer as an interior defensive lineman. 

The disconnect between reputation and production is especially glaring when comparing Odighizuwa to Carter, his NFC East counterpart in Philadelphia. Carter has played two fewer seasons and had lesser production in 2024 than Odighizuwa, but the chasm between the two players' perception couldn't be wider. 

Carter ranked third on the list with some people voting him as high as No. 1 and no lower than No. 4. Odighizuwa totaled more quarterback pressures (60 to 53), a higher quarterback pressure rate (12.3% to 10.4%) and the same number of sacks (4.5) in 2024. Yes, contributing to the reigning Super Bowl LIX champion Eagles helped Carter's credibility, but on a list of individual rankings, a player's individual statistics should be weighed the most heavily. 

Perhaps weight is another factor holding Odighizuwa back. Carter is a behemoth, standing at 6-foot-3 while weighing 300 pounds. Odighizuwa is just an inch shorter at 6-foot-2, but he's stylistically more of a finesse player who relies on his athleticism given his playing weight of 280. 

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Why Odighizuwa is poised for a bigger statistical season in 2025

Odighizuwa's playing style as a more athletic defensive tackle, one who maximizes his mobility and not just his brute strength, could result in another career year for the soon-to-be 27-year-old in 2025 under new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. 

The former Chicago Bears head coach's scheme calls for its defensive linemen to charge vertical up the field instead of the more reactionary role of playing blocks from the offensive line and standing your ground, which Mike Zimmer deployed last season. The scheme Dallas used in 2024 leaned more on its linebackers to be playmakers; the scheme Eberflus will run in 2025 returns some of that playmaking onus back to the defensive line. 

"I'm very comfortable with it. I love it," Odighizuwa told CBS Sports on the last day of mandatory minicamp on June 12. "I'm just very excited to play in it. It's going to be a good year. I like what [Eberflus] got going on. I like the vibe that him and Schotty have. I feel I learned pretty fast, like adjusting to different things. I feel like it hasn't been too much of an adjustment because a lot of the things that I'm being asked to do just align with my skillset really well. So it's more so just learning the X's and O's, which I feel like I pick up on pretty quickly."

Odighizuwa produced career highs in sacks (4.5) and quarterback pressures (60) in Zimmer's scheme, but now that he's evolved as a player over the last couple of seasons, he's better positioned to maximize his abilities and turn them into larger on-field production in a scheme suited to highlight the way he plays. 

What that will look like on the field is Dallas' defense getting back to more pre- and post-snap movement along the defensive line with twists and stunts. That's a style of play more aligned with what Dan Quinn -- the Cowboys defensive coordinator for Odighizuwa's first three seasons (2021-2023) who is now the Washington Commanders head coach -- ran in Dallas than what Zimmer emphasized in 2024. 

Translation: Odighizuwa could very well be ranked a lot higher amongst his peers at this time next year. 

"I feel like, it's not just me, I feel like it's a scheme that requires the D-line to eat," Odighizuwa said. "It's just not one where it's set up for us to eat. If the D-line doesn't eat, the scheme isn't going to work. You know what I mean? ... Definitely a lot more similarities with DQ's defense. Just more, not to say we move a bunch, just like more stunts, more twists, stuff like that. It just favors more athletic DTs and more athletic defensive linemen in general. It's a defense that requires you to have very athletic defensive linemen."