I s there anything better for an NFL general manager than absolutely getting over on another team in a trade? Probably not.
San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch pulled off 1 of those kinds of deals, according to ESPN’s Seth Walder, who called the Dallas Cowboys trading away defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa as the Cowboys’ worst offseason move.
“The Cowboys chose the wrong D-tackle to deal, as Odighizuwa is younger and makes less than Clark, plus is arguably better than the veteran at this stage of their respective careers,” Walder wrote on June 30. “The Cowboys would have gotten less draft capital for Clark, but I don’t think they fared particularly well with the Odighizuwa deal and wonder if they didn’t trade Kenny Clark, who was part of the Micah Parsons deal, due to the optics.”
Optics, in this case, meant owner Jerry Jones would have essentially admitted he made a mistake by trading for Clark if they shipped him to another team, which wasn’t going to happen.
Cowboys Shopped Odighizuwa in Multiple Trades
By the time the 49ers became the destination for Odighizuwa, they’d already tried to send him to another team to land an elite edge rusher.
“The Cowboys are trading DT Osa Odighizuwa to the 49ers, multiple sources tell me,” NFL insider Jordan Schultz wrote on his official X account on March 11. “The disruptive Odighizuwa had 17 sacks, 34 TFLs and 2 forced fumbles during his tenure in Dallas. The Cowboys discussed trading Osa Odighizuwa to the Raiders in a package for Maxx Crosby last week before the deal ended up in Baltimore. Now it’s the 49ers who get him.”
The deal also rid the Cowboys of Odighizuwa’s massive salary — he signed a 4-year, $80 million contract extension in March 2025.
Dallas used the 3rd-round pick from the 49ers on a promising inside linebacker in Michigan’s Jaishawn Barham, who could end up being a starter sooner rather than later at the weakest position on the Cowboys’ defense.
Cowboys Traded for Standout 49ers Linebacker
When the Cowboys and 49ers meet at AT&T Stadium in Week 10, there will be plenty of familiar faces on both sides of the ball.
The trade for Odighizuwa wasn’t the only 1 the 2 teams pulled off this offseason — the 49ers shipped standout linebacker Dee Winters to the Cowboys in exchange for a 2026 5th-round pick on April 24.
In 2025, Winters racked up 101 tackles, 8 TFL, 5 pass deflections, and 1 interception returned 75 yards for a touchdown. He also started all 17 games for the 1st time in his career.
Winters, a 2023 6th-round pick (No. 213 overall), took over the starting role for NFL All-Pro Fred Warner after a season-ending injury. If he can get that same level of production in Dallas, it represents an incredible value in the final season of his 4-year, $3.98 million rookie contract.
Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport put Winters, 5-foot-11 and 227 pounds, at the top of his list of the NFL’s best “under the radar” players about to play a major role in the upcoming season.
“The Dallas Cowboys had one of the NFL’s worst defenses in 2025, and the team took a buzzsaw to the unit in the offseason,” Davenport wrote on June 22. “There are new edge-rushers in veteran Rashan Gary and rookie Malachi Lawrence. Two new starting safeties in Jalen Thompson and first-round rookie Caleb Downs. And a potential new ‘green dot’ linebacker in Dee Winters … Winters isn’t an elite talent, but he was a steady producer for the 49ers last year. He also provides some badly needed stability for a Cowboys linebacker corps that was something of a carousel last year.”
49ers Praised for Stealing $80 Million Star From NFC Rival