PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s when you trust your contacts at teams and what your scouts see. What the Steelers heard about Ohio State edge rusher Jack Sawyer allowed them to take a player at a position that wasn’t necessarily a need.
“He is exactly what you want in a football player,” Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said the people they trust told them.
"When you have a guy that has all of the qualities that he has, the intangibles & the winning attitude. Those things are hard to pass up. We thought he was the best football player for us at this time."
At that time might be referring to people who wonder why they didn’t go with quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Austin said at 6’5”, 260 pounds, Sawyer will play at outside linebacker, joining TJ Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig. He said Sawyer will work his way into being in the lineup and has the abilities to play special teams and be an impact player on kick units.
There is an edge with Sawyer that the Steelers really liked. Specifically, his ability to help set the edge on the outside of a defense and help a team that struggled to stop offenses at the end of last year. Austin said Sawyer is a guy that ‘has his mean on’.
Sawyer had one of the biggest plays of the college football season last year, a strip sack of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers in the college football semi-final that he picked up and ran 83 yards for a touchdown.
“He’s a smart guy,” Austin said. “He understands the game. He gets himself on edges when he needs to get on edges. He knows when to bull rush. That’s when guys have a knack for it. They really study it. They understand the game. They understand situations and being able to apply it as the game goes.”
Even without high marks in combine settings, the Steelers believe he will be the type of player that shows up when plays are needed.