As a fourth-round pick at a position that wasn’t truly viewed as a need, Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer is stepping into an experienced, deep outside linebacker room with the Pittsburgh Steelers, which features star T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig.
The Steelers have typically needed that fourth outside linebacker in recent years as Watt, Highsmith and Herbig have all dealt with some injuries.
That reasoning alone has NFL.com draft analyst Chad Reuter believing that Sawyer will compete for starting snaps as a rookie in 2025. Not due to his talent, his fit in Pittsburgh, or a need at the position, but rather due to the injury history of guys in front of him.
Reuter ranked Sawyer No. 15 out of 16 players in his latest piece for Day 3 prospects who could challenge for starting snaps as rookies.
“Sawyer was excellent value in the fourth round, despite not being the twitchiest edge rusher in the draft,” Reuter writes. “He may have been seen as a long-term acquisition with All-Pro T.J. Watt entering a contract year, but there’s always a chance he sees more snaps than expected with Watt playing through injuries at times and Alex Highsmith missing six games in 2024 with a sprained ankle.”
If everyone is healthy, Sawyer will be hard-pressed to see more than 5-7 snaps a game at outside linebacker in 2025. Watt and Highsmith are the engines that drive the Steelers’ defense off the edge, and Herbig has come on strong in his first two NFL seasons and can give the Steelers real juice off the edge as a pass rusher.
Even when the Steelers had a solid No. 4 OLB like Markus Golden in 2023, he played just 230 snaps defensively, which was 22% of all defensive snaps across 16 games. That averages out to 14 snaps a game, which is on the higher side. That includes five games with 20+ snaps, two of which came early in the season as Herbig was working into a role, and three others came late in the season, with the Week 18 game against the Baltimore Ravens seeing him play 21 snaps after Watt went down with a knee injury.
The 230 snaps from a No. 4 OLB seems like a lot, particularly at 14 snaps per game. But Watt’s health and Herbig’s inexperience played a factor in that. Now, Herbig is a key rotational piece, though Watt and Highsmith do have some questions regarding health moving forward.
That might be enough for Sawyer to see more than 5-7 snaps a game. But true starting snaps? Outside of Watt and Highsmith going down, that seems like a significant stretch from Reuter.
