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Rookie Jack Sawyer Says Steelers Tried To Trade Up For Him

Jack Sawyer Steelers

Coming off a national championship season with the Ohio State Buckeyes and producing one of the more iconic plays in program history, outside linebacker Jack Sawyer had to wait longer than anticipated during the 2025 NFL Draft to hear his name called.

Sawyer ultimately went off the board to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Day 3 in the fourth round at No. 123 overall. But if things had gone differently, he could have heard his name called even earlier by the Steelers.

Appearing on the Not Just Football with Cam Heyward podcast that published Tuesday morning, Sawyer revealed that his agent told him the Steelers were trying to trade up to land him.

“For me it was kind of like a little bit of a roller coaster. It was, going into the draft, I heard I was going on Day 2, regardless. So I’m thinking I’m going either in the second or third round and obviously that didn’t happen,” Sawyer said, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “I woke up with like an hour left before the draft on Day 3, and my agent’s calling me and said, ‘Hey, I’ve been on the phone with the Steelers all day. They’re trying to trade up to get you.’

“And I’m like, ‘Man, I’m not believing anything anyone’s saying this time.'”

After dealing falling out of the second and third round and slipping to Day 3, it’s understandable that Sawyer didn’t want to hear anything about a team trying to trade up for him. A lot of it can just be noise.

The Steelers might have ultimately tried to trade up for him, but nothing materialized. So, they sat and waited. Sawyer fell into their laps at No. 123 overall, giving Pittsburgh a player it coveted throughout the draft process. At the time, another outside linebacker to play behind T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig didn’t seem like much of a need. 

But the Steelers valued Sawyer throughout the process and landed the player they wanted without having to trade up for him. It was a good bit of business — and some luck — for the Steelers. It was a frustrating slide for Sawyer though, and the Steelers might have the Buffalo Bills to thank in the end.

According to Sawyer, the Bills told him that they were going to take him in the second or third round after working him out privately. The Bills instead took Arkansas pass rusher Landon Jackson in the third round at No. 72 overall.

After that, pass rushers went off the board to Carolina, Arizona, the Los Angeles Rams, and Denver before Sawyer was selected by the Steelers in the fourth round.

It all worked out in the end for Sawyer though.

“I was gonna have a party on Day 2 with all my friends and family. And then I kind of was like, ‘Nah, I don’t want to even take a chance.’ He’s [Sawyer’s agent] like, ‘You’re going on Day 2,'” Sawyer said of his draft experience. “And for some reason I didn’t believe it. And then I ended up falling to the perfect spot.

“So, I couldn’t be more thrilled.”

Sawyer is in a great spot with a deep outside linebacker room in Pittsburgh. He will have the opportunity to learn from an all-time great like T.J. Watt while also getting pointers from Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig.

He can cut his teeth on special teams and could have a role in limited packages defensively as a rookie, putting him in good position to succeed early in his career.

Check out the full episode of Not Just Football with Cam Heyward below.

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