Every year there are certain draft prospects who just feel like Pittsburgh Steelers. Last year, I thought that about both Zach Frazier and Payton Wilson. They were both big “hearts and smarts” guys who were just as good off the field as they were on it. This year, one of those guys for me is Oregon ILB Jeffrey Bassa.
I spoke with him at the Senior Bowl, where he said Mike Tomlin and the Steelers held a meeting with him. I had the chance to follow up with him at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine.
Very rarely do the Steelers spend much time at the Combine with prospects they familiarized themselves with in Mobile, but they did with Bassa.
I asked him about his meeting with the Steelers at the Senior Bowl.
“That meeting went really well,” Bassa said last week in Indianapolis. “I had an informal [meeting] with them the other day, so it’s been going really well. Keeping up with a lot of teams here, but especially with the Steelers. Now that I’m thinking back to the Senior Bowl, that meeting went really well, and I got a great relationship and good feel for the scouts and coaches over there. So hopefully they fall in love with me.”
One thing the Steelers might value is his loyalty to the Oregon program. He was asked about playing at Oregon for all four seasons, which is becoming a rarity in today’s NIL landscape.
“It means a lot. It means that I left a legacy at Oregon,” Bassa said. “It means leaving a legacy and being loyal because nowadays especially with college football, there’s a lot of reasons why guys are leaving schools. I think that says a lot about character, a lot about people who can stick it out in tough situations or in good situations.”
Another thing that may attract the Steelers to him is his experience and affinity for being the central communicator on defense.
He spoke about wearing the green communication dot to field calls from the sideline in 2024 at Oregon during his Senior Bowl interview, and he expanded on that in Indianapolis.
“It takes a lot of poise, a lot of confidence to make sure that your defense is right in line,” Bassa said. “You wanna make sure one, you’re getting it called correctly and that you know everybody’s assignment. So if a DB or a d-lineman doesn’t know they’re in the right gap or the right assignment, you gotta be able to have poise right before the ball is snapped and make sure that they’re right. You gotta know the whole defense.”
There is a certain cerebral requirement for NFL inside linebackers. The Steelers have seen over the last few years how communication breakdowns can hamstring an otherwise talented group of defenders. Bassa is confident that he has what it takes to play that role in the NFL.
Beyond the intelligence aspect of wearing the green dot, he knows there is also a leadership aspect.
“You also need a guy who, let’s say there’s an explosive play, you need a guy who’s gonna keep the defense poised and calm, not being in a huddle going crazy, but also keep everybody level-headed,” Bassa said.
The Steelers have praised the job that Patrick Queen did in 2024, but there is still a lot of room for improvement, and he only has two years left on his contract. There is also a pretty easy out on that contract for the final year of the deal if he doesn’t take a step forward in 2025. Ultimately, the Steelers could soon need an inside linebacker to pair with Payton Wilson long term.
After having two conversations with Bassa, and the Steelers showing rare interest in him at both the Senior Bowl and Combine, he just feels like a Steeler.
Check out our full scouting report on Bassa below.
