....So Your Team Drafted Jayson Oweh

Congratulations! Your team has just drafted Jayson Oweh, so what exactly are you getting in the 6-foot-5, 257-pound defensive end? Let’s find out.

The Skinny

The first thing to really know about Oweh is that he is the definition of a freak athlete. I mean, how else would you describe a defensive end at his height and weight who can run a 4.36, 40-yard dash? Secondly, Oweh is still a rather raw prospect overall. He only started playing football as a junior in high school, meaning he's got about just five years of experience under his belt heading into his first NFL season.

Oweh was a member of Penn State’s 2018 recruiting class and committed to the Nittany Lions over 26 other scholarship offers which included Alabama, Michigan, and Ohio State. Once the 2018 recruiting cycle was all said and done, Oweh was considered a top-100-prospect and a top-5 strongside defensive end.

After playing sparingly in 2018 as a true freshman, Oweh played in all 13 games for Penn State in 2019 recording 21 tackles including five sacks and forcing two fumbles. During that sophomore season, he showed a lot of promise as a pass rusher and looked to be in for a big 2020 season on that front. The New Jersey native started in all seven games for the Nittany Lions this past season and while he showed a lot of progress in his abilities against the run, he also failed to record a sack. Not exactly the production that was expected out of Oweh though his 38 total tackles and 6.5 tackles are really good in their own right.

What You’re Getting

This is ultimately the biggest question regarding Oweh. He is the true definition of a “boom or bust” prospect. If Oweh can put everything together at the NFL level, you’re looking at a potential perennial Pro Bowl talent. But it could take a while for that to happen, with only five years of playing experience, Oweh still has a lot to learn and it’s likely going to take at least two more years before we see him show consistent flashes of the player he could be at the NFL level.

That being said, he has everything you could want in a potentially elite pass rusher. He can use his speed to beat you off the edge but he also has good upper body strength that allows him to beat opposing offensive linemen physically as well. Physically, Oweh is still quite lean and it’s likely that he will get bigger over his first few seasons in the NFL. That will also only help with his upper and lower body strengths, allowing him to garner a bigger role on defense as his career progresses.

Overall, Oweh has some of the highest potential of any defensive prospect in the entire draft class but it’s raw and unproven potential. It’s not going to be a smooth transition in all likelihood for Oweh, and the early results may not be there. However, if he’s able to ever put it all together, he’ll be an elite pass rusher in the league for a very long time.