Why the Slide?: Jack Sawyer

Why the Slide Series

This series was created a number of years ago in response to questions about why certain well-known prospects went unselected in NFL drafts. For these articles, I reach out to sources with NFL teams to find out why their organizations passed on drafting a given player and/or the reasons other teams passed on that prospect. The positive response to “Why Undrafted” and questions from readers about why prospects were drafted lower than the media’s expectations led us to create the parallel series “Why the Slide?”

Both series are back this year. Feel free to email me requests for Why the Slide? and Why Undrafted? at [email protected]. I can’t promise to get to all of them, but I will do my best and definitely will respond to the email.

The Expectations

For years, the media hyped Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer as a potential early-round prospect. The media is not completely to blame, as Sawyer was a star recruit and was following an edge rush tradition with the Buckeyes that has produced some high first-rounders, including Joey Bosa, Nick Bosa, and Chase Young. When Sawyer did not have prolific sophomore or junior seasons, the hype train died down some, but it ramped into overdrive when Sawyer dominated the college football playoff, including a game-clinching sack fumble returned for a touchdown against Notre Dame in the championship. That led to a lot of mock drafts projecting Sawyer as a late first-round pick. During the draft process, projections for Sawyer lowered somewhat, but he was still expected to be an early-round pick. Thus, many were surprised when Sawyer slid to the fourth round.

The ‘Why’

During the fall, late-season, and lead-up to the draft, I never had Sawyer projected as a first-round pick. He did not showcase a first-round skill set. I followed up with team sources, and Sawyer was getting grades ranging from the second to the fourth round. They did not see Sawyer as a first-rounder at any point.

The Pittsburgh Steelers ended Sawyer’s fall, and that was an okay landing spot. On the positive side, Pittsburgh needs some young front-seven talent to emerge, so there could be the long-term possibility of earning a starting spot. On the negative side, it will be a challenge for Sawyer to get a lot of playing time with veteran Alex Highsmith and superstar T.J. Watt ahead of him. Sawyer will have to take advantage of his rotational snaps as a backup to keep those veterans fresh. If Sawyer does well in a backup role, he could grow into being a starter for Pittsburgh.