Jayson Oweh: Perfect fit with the Buccaneers in the 2021 NFL Draft
By Rob Leeds
Jayson Oweh looks like a perfect fit for the Buccaneers in the 2021 NFL Draft.
The Buccaneers love their starting pass-rushers for next season, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t need to spend any picks on the position in the 2021 NFL Draft. Assuming they want to take a chance on a player with the highest upside down the road mixed with potential now, that player looks like Penn State’s Jayson Oweh.
Just so it’s clear, Oweh is the rawest of the first-round pass rushers. After a limited sample size in college and a diminished final season in the abbreviated COVID year, Oweh’s hype surrounds his impressive athleticism.
Oweh’s 4.36 40-yard dash could have broken Twitter if the NFL Combine was business as usual, but this number at his Pro Day still showed just how high Oweh could go.
Essentially, the evaluation of Oweh boils down to athleticism vs. proof. Athleticism is self-explanatory, but the evidence is also an essential way of gauging the ability of a prospect to excel at the next level. Bucs fans are very familiar with the athletic freak that can’t perform (Noah Spence), and being able to take a player that can actually do their job is key.
On the other hand, you have to be an athlete to find success in the NFL. A lack of speed, size, and body control is damaging for a prospect that wants to make it at the next level, and plenty of players that didn’t ball out in college find a way to make it in the NFL based on exceptional athleticism.
Oweh brings that previously-mentioned athleticism, and he brings enough for the rest of the team as well. The Bucs may see him as a project piece for now, but that is exactly what Oweh needs to find success in the NFL. A year spent behind Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul would give Oweh the time to grow into his body at the next level, and he would also give the Bucs another option on their dangerous even front defenses.
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The Buccaneers are definitely taking a chance here on a player that might not pan out, but the upside as a pass rusher and even in shallow coverage is too good to ignore. Jayson Oweh, as a developmental piece at the end of the first round, is far from a waste of resources, and the benefits could quickly outweigh the costs with one of the most athletic players in the class.
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