49ers acquire DT Osa Odighizuwa from the Cowboys for a 3rd-round pick

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers added some needed help for their pass rush, acquiring defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa from the Dallas Cowboys for a third-round pick on Wednesday.

Despite drafting Alfred Collins in the second round and C.J. West in the fourth round last season, the 49ers were in need of help in their interior pass rush. Collins and West produced more in the run game last season with each getting only one sack.

San Francisco finished the season with a league-low 20 sacks for the fewest by any team in four years and the lowest total ever for the franchise in a non strike-shortened season.

Dallas also dealt defensive lineman Solomon Thomas to Tennessee in a deal that featured a seventh-round pick swap. The Cowboys get the 218th overall pick in the draft and give up Thomas and pick No. 225.

Odighizuwa had 3 1/2 sacks last season and has 17 in his five-year career with Dallas. Odighizuwa's 52 pressures last season, according to Pro Football Focus, were more than any single 49ers player had in the regular season and were more than all five of the Niners' defensive tackles had combined in 17 games.

Odighizuwa doesn't come cheaply as he is owed a $16.25 million base salary for 2026 with the chance to earn an additional $500,000 in per game bonuses. He has non-guaranteed base salaries of $20 million in 2027 and '28.

Odighizuwa, a third-round pick in 2021, had become expendable in Dallas despite signing a four-year, $80 million extension with the team last March. The Cowboys added defensive tackles Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams in trades last season, moving Odighizuwa down the depth chart.

With Clark and Williams entrenched and the team planning to switch to a three-man defensive front under new defensive coordinator Christian Parker, the Cowboys opted to deal Odighizuwa and remove his hefty salary from their books.

The trade also gives Dallas a day two draft pick at No. 92 overall to go along with two first-round selections. The Cowboys had previously dealt their second-rounder in the deal for Williams and the third-rounder in a deal for receiver George Pickens.

The second deal by Dallas gives the Titans another defender from first-year coach Robert Saleh’s Jets’ tenure in the deal.

Thomas will be playing for his fifth NFL team and rejoins Saleh, defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton, assistant defensive line coach Tanzel Smart, defensive end Jermaine Johnson and tackle John Franklin-Myers in Tennessee.

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AP Pro Football Writers Schuyler Dixon and Teresa M. Walker contributed to this report