NFL Draft

1/17/25

6 min read

Jack Sawyer 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Ohio State Buckeyes EDGE

Ohio State Buckeyes defensive end Jack Sawyer (33) celebrates after winning the College Football Playoff semifinal against the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium.
Ohio State Buckeyes defensive end Jack Sawyer (33) celebrates after winning the College Football Playoff semifinal against the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.

Height: 6050 (unofficial)

Weight: 260lbs (unofficial)

Year: Senior

Pro Comparison: Cameron Thomas

Scouting Overview

Ohio State Buckeyes edge defender Jack Sawyer is a fairly clean projection to the NFL level. He’s not as physically gifted or toolsy as a number of the other pass rushers in this class, but Sawyer has the right build, strength, and instincts to still be an NFL contributor and, potentially, in the right situation, a starter.

He is an impactful run defender who found his pass rush ceiling this season thanks to effective bull rushes and a persistent motor. This is a player who should be well regarded in base fronts as a hand in the dirt end and charged with predominantly setting edges in the run game.

Sawyer has developed into a well-regarded locker room leader at Ohio State and plays with the same passion as a high-motor player. The challenge for an NFL team will be finding the right mix of early and late down opportunities for him as a part of their rotation. 

2025 NFL Combine Results

TBD

Positives

  • Very good football intelligence. He’s a savvy defender with good block diagnosis skills
  • Illustrates desirable power to set edges and collapse pockets as a pass rusher
  • Hot motor pulls him back into the action on extended plays if his initial charge is stymied 

Negatives

  • Does not possess ideal length despite prototypical stature as an even front end
  • Struggles with strike timing and placement as a pass rusher to ensure he’s winning first contact and setting up softer paths with consistency
  • Will struggle to stress angles with speed and must be reliant on hand-to-hand combat to claim pass-rush wins

Background

Sawyer is from Pickerington, OH, and played high school football at Pickerington North HS. He’s from a family full of athletes — his grandfather played baseball and was a part of the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system, and his parents were athletes. His father, Lyle, played football at Findlay College and his mother, Michelle, was a prep basketball standout.

Jack earned a 5-star recruiting ranking (247 Sports) and was a two-way star who played quarterback and defensive end for Pickerington North. The COVID-19 pandemic left his senior season of high school in question, so Sawyer opted to enroll early at Ohio State as a member of the recruiting class of 2021. 

Sawyer has twice been named Second Team All-Big Ten (2023, 2024) as a member of the Buckeyes and helped lead Ohio State to a College Football Playoff Championship Game appearance against Notre Dame as his swan song with the program. 


Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer (33) returns a fumble recovery for a touchdown against Texas during the 2025 Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer (33) returns a fumble recovery for a touchdown against Texas during the 2025 Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Tale Of The Tape

Sawyer is a fairly straightforward player to nail down. He’s physical, tough, plays hard, and plays smart. He’s a savvy player who has maximized his opportunities at Ohio State thanks in large part to his instincts. He is frequently flashing for his diagnosis of blocks and reflexes to react accordingly to tackles that look to expand him, guards and tight ends that look to kick him, and aggressively anticipating when he’s purposefully left unattended in the blocking surface. 

Sawyer boasts an NFL-ready frame and should have little issue negotiating the physicality of NFL blockers, particularly in the run game, where he turns action back inside and is stingy with real estate on the perimeter. Sawyer can run into some challenges against long arms and strong grips, however — he only has sufficient NFL length for the position, and it does show up when trying to press and extend in gap control situations in which his initial punch does not create knockback. 

Sawyer’s game is predicated on toughness and power, but he does not have an engulfing presence on the edge that would allow him to fully lean into these qualities and dominate all opposition. This leaves him, at times, vulnerable and in need of being wary of getting enveloped, including as a pass rusher.

Sawyer does not have the explosive first step to fall back on and bust angles on the edge, which stresses his consistency with a pass-rush plan. More often than not, he will attempt to bull or long-arm soft-setting tackles, but he does illustrate swipes and chop that allow him to take the edge with all of his momentum and cascade into the quarterback. 

But Sawyer will occasionally misread tackles when getting uneven with the rest of the front, and his attempts at unleashing an inside spin move to counter back across the face have largely come up empty-handed. Sawyer’s pass rush profile is sufficient, but his lack of burst and length hurts him, and dynamic tackles will pose a steep challenge unless plays get outside of structure. 

Sawyer shows good feel in these instances and does well to retrace his steps, peel back upfield, and pressure opposing quarterbacks. He lacks the short-area agility and hip flexibility to flash when being juked in head-up situations, but quarterbacks who keep their eyes downfield and flush are vulnerable to him dragging them down from behind. 

In all, Sawyer is a modest athlete with modest tools. But he’s smart and tough, plays hard, and has enough power to win first contact when he can land his hands inside. He should be encouraged to play with his hand in the dirt to milk any added burst out of his stance and be given opportunities in a deep pass rush room to command early down snaps and try to further flesh out his pass rush resume with the traits at his disposal.

Teams that focus on stout control of the line of scrimmage and less on backfield penetration seem likelier to gravitate to his game.


Ideal Scheme Fit, Role

Sawyer projects as a high-floor rotational defensive end at the pro level. His strength and instincts will serve him well, particularly on early downs.

He should be considered a potential starter who cedes pass rush opportunities to more dynamic talent on obvious passing downs as part of a defensive line rotation in the NFL. 


Grade: 75.50/100.00, Third Round Value

Big Board Rank: TBD

Position Rank: TBD


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