There’s no question that, in just a short time together, the refurbished Cowboys defensive front of Quinnen Williams, Osa Odighizuwa and Kenny Clark has made a massive difference in the outlook for this team. The Cowboys have won three straight since acquiring Williams in a trade-deadline deal with the Jets, and the defense has gone from allowing 30.8 points and 397.4 yards per game before the streak to 21.7 points and 312.3 yards in those three wins.
The problem for the Cowboys, though, is that the remaining salaries owed to the newly formed defensive front are prohibitively expensive. According to Spotrac, in all, the trio is owed $180 million into 2028 (only Odighizuwa is signed then), including a hefty $84 million next season. The Cowboys can reconfigure and convert some of those payments, but the speculation around the team has been that, after this season, they’re likely to chop off one of those players, with Clark being the most likely.
That’s the conventional wisdom. But owner Jerry Jones, at the very least, is not conventional.
Cowboys Can Build Around Defensive Front
Speaking on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas on Tuesday, Jones insisted that the team can–and will–keep Williams, Clark and Odighizuwa on board with the Cowboys, even if it’s pricey.
Said Jones: “When you line those three up in there, and you’ve got them either in rotation or you’ve got them in there together, you really create a dominant feature to our football team. The combination of all of them—someone asked, you’re not gonna be able to keep them, all three. That’s not right. We can, and we can build from that.”
Jones has been very encouraged by how the three have meshed–Clark brings heft, Odighizuwa brings surprising agility and Williams brings a combination.
“If you look at those guys, Osa could play further out if we wanted him to play further out. His unique position is his quickness inside, and it complements what Williams brings and it complements what Kenny Clark brings,” Jones said. “Those players have tremendous football character. We knew that when we extended Osa last year. But we knew that, we knew we wanted him around for a long time.”
Cowboys Would Have to Cut Corners at Other Spots
The idea, Jones said, is that the team can use the trio as the heart of their defense, and their ability to slow the run and keep pressure on the line will allow players on the perimeter and the linebackers to thrive. Presumably, the Cowboys could cut corners on paying pass-rushers if the interior is dominant.
“They just bring opportunity to the other parts of the team. That combination in there, if you look at the Dallas Cowboys today, it wasn’t here when we started the season. When you bring it in there today, it’s very unique,” Jones said.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (Getty)
Jerry Jones: ‘We Needed to Get Bigger’
The goal for the Cowboys, Jones said, is to get bigger so that when they get to the playoffs–still a longshot this season–they can better hold their own. And there’s no doubting this bunch is bigger. Odighizuwa is 6-foot-2 and 280 pounds, but the new 2025 additions are heftier: Clark is 6-foot-3 and 314 pounds, while Williams is 6-foot-3, 303 pounds.
“We really have strengthened our front over the last couple of years,” Jones said. “We really look different on the front. We’re bigger on the front on offense. We’re bigger on the front on defense. That was very deliberate. One of the things that we saw, I saw, when we get in these playoffs, they run over us.
“We needed to get bigger up front. Start with that right there. That’s where we started with that trade with Micah to start the year.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Cowboys’ Jerry Jones Makes Bold $180 Million Promise on Defense appeared first on Heavy Sports.