4 bold Cowboys predictions heading into the 2022 season

There have been a few good notes coming out of the Dallas Cowboys OTA’s and that has got me thinking about some bold predictions for the upcoming season. It’s always fun to guess how things will go in the future, and with the draft and the bulk of free agency underway, now is a good time to speculate.

We don’t have a full understanding of what the official 53-man roster will look like or who will be starting at certain positions but, with Cowboys football less than 100 days away, we can start to get excited for more NFL action soon.

Making 4 bold predictions about the Cowboys’ 2022 season

4. Osa Odighizuwa will be the Cowboys’ breakout defender in 2022

Last season was the year of Micah Parsons. But in 2022, who is going to be that breakout player that forces teams to account for him on each play? My money right now is on former UCLA Bruin Osa Odighizuwa who last year showed flashes of how dominant he can be in the trenches.

Now, with another offseason under his belt, I have to believe he’s going to be taking a huge step forward. He won’t have the type of season that Parsons had but he will force teams to respect the middle of that Cowboys defensive line once again and make things a bit easier for the Dallas edge rushers to get home to the quarterback.

Normally defensive tackles that are taken as late as he was aren’t able to make much of an impact in their rookie season. However, due to injuries and COVID issues, Odighizuwa was able to get play time and put a considerable amount of pressure on quarterbacks in 2021.

He also said that he’s dropped bad weight and gained more muscle without losing any speed this offseason. If the lineman was that good last season just imagine what he is going to do against defenders now that he’s gained strength. I’m not saying he’s going to be the next Aaron Donald but he could start to force teams to gameplan for him and that can’t be said about too many defensive tackles in the league.