1. The basics

Name: Osawaru Odighizuwa

Position: Defensive tackle

Born: August 13, 1998

Hometown: Dayton, Ohio

Height: 6-2 Weight: 280 pounds

College: UCLA

2. New contract

On March 4, the pending free agent Osa Odighizuwa signed a four-year extension to remain with the Cowboys, the team that drafted him.

The deal is worth $80 million over the next four seasons, with a $20 million signing bonus and $52 million guaranteed.

3. Nigerian descent

Odighizuwa is of Nigerian descent and his brother, Owa, was a defensive end with the Giants from 2015-16.

4. Complicated youth

Despite the success stories of he and his brother, the Odighizuwas came out of what was a very complicated upbringing.

Their father, Peter, was the perpetrator of the 2002 Appalachian School of Law shooting in Grundy, Va. A former student, Peter learned he was going to be suspended due to failing grades and subsequently went on an on-campus shooting rampage that killed three, including the dean and a professor, and injured three more.

After originally being found mentally incompetent to stand trial, Peter Odighizuwa eventually pleaded guilty to the murders. He received six life sentences without the possibility of parole and is currently serving at Red Onion State Prison.

A 2015 story on Owa Odighizuwa in the New York Post details how the boys’ mother, Abjeyuwa, feared for their lives after the shooting and moved her children across the country to Portland, Oregon.

“I’m telling you, she needs like an award for being the strongest mother I ever met in my life,” one of Osa and Owa’s aunts said of Abjeyuwa in the story. “Very determined. I don’t know how she did it. I couldn’t do it. But she did it. A very, very strong woman.”

5. Mental health advocacy

Largely due to the events of his upbringing, Osa Odighizuwa has become an advocate for mental health awareness since joining the Cowboys.

Odighizuwa has said that he wants to be the kind of player that teammates can go to in times of personal crisis, and he believes that positive mental health pairs with on-field success.

“I’ll be someone people can confide in in a judgment-free space, while also remaining my positive self,” he told NFL.com in 2021. “I would want teammates to feel like they can come to me with a problem and know I will listen and be there without judging anyone.”

6. High school star

Despite the turmoil in his early youth, Odighizuwa thrived on the football field.

At Douglas High School in Portland, he was a two-time defensive player of the year and the No. 3 overall recruit in the state of Oregon.

And football wasn’t even his best sport….

7. Elite wrestler

Even “elite” might be an understatement.

Odighizuwa was an absolutely dominant high school wrestler at Douglas, losing only one match in three seasons as a varsity wrestler. He went 46-0 in his junior season and 45-0 as a senior. In total, he won three heavyweight state championships.

Despite this, football was always the plan for Odighizuwa.

“I definitely had a couple offers for wrestling, I knew I wanted to play football, though,” Odighizuwa said on The Pat McAfee Show in March. “A lot of other people knew I wanted to play football as well, I committed to UCLA pretty early. So, when that happens, they kind of just save their energy and say ‘He’s pretty heavily committed to going to that school.’ That kind of ends the [wrestling] recruiting before it begins.”

8. Go Bruins

So it was the gridiron that Odighizuwa chose and he committed to UCLA for college ball, where he’d have more success and contribute in all four seasons with the Bruins.

Odighizuwa totaled 11.5 sacks as UCLA’s starting defensive tackle over four years, including four sacks in his pandemic-shortened senior season in which he only played seven games.

9. Welcome to Dallas

The Cowboys selected Odighizuwa with the 75th overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

It was part of a totally revamped defensive line the Cowboys’ worked with the 2021 draft, also landing Micah Parsons with their first rounder to pair up next to Odighizuwa for the foreseeable future.

10. Shines with Cowboys

Odighizuwa went on to earn that four-year extension over the course of the next four seasons with Dallas, as he’s totaled 13.5 sacks and 172 tackles to go along with 23 QB hits.

Also not to be overlooked, he’s been an iron man for the Cowboys’ defensive front. He’s missed one game in his entire career, and he’s started 17 of 17 games in each of the past three seasons.

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