The Pittsburgh Steelers made their first truly off-the-wall selection of the 2025 NFL Draft. With all eyes on the quarterback position, general manager Omar Khan turned in his card for Ohio State pass rusher Jack Sawyer.
The Steelers were at Ohio State's Pro Day, but they expressed almost no interest in the edge rusher group throughout the pre-draft process. Sawyer will slide in as a depth option in a talented group that already includes T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Nick Herbig.
At 6'4 1/4'' and 260 pounds, Sawyer has a powerful frame, but his short arms (31 3/4'') and stiff hips dropped him on teams' draft boards. Still, it's not hard to see what drew the Steelers to Sawyer.
Sawyer is a splashy player who can show up in big moments of the game. During his college career with the Buckeyes, Sawyer combined for 144 tackles, 29 tackles for a loss, and 23.0 sacks. It doesn't hurt that he comes from an Ohio State football program that Mike Tomlin loves.
While Sawyer offers quality edge rusher depth, fans have the right to question the decision to take a rotational depth player over a quarterback. This might say something about their confidence in getting Aaron Rodgers inked to a contract.
The Pittsburgh Steelers pass on QB shows confidence in Aaron Rodgers
After the Pittsburgh Steelers passed on Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders twice in the NFL Draft, it felt unlikely they would take him in Round 4. But there were other quarterbacks ripe for the picking when Pittsburgh was on the clock.
The Steelers had a chance to select quarterbacks like Ohio State's Will Howard, Texas' Quinn Ewers, or Syracuse's Kyle McCord. But the fact that they passed on a quarterback once again tells you everything you need to know about the confidence this team has in Aaron Rodgers.
Daniel Jeremiah would agree. During the NFL Network broadcast of Day 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft, the prominent draft analyst believes this team knows that Rodgers is coming to town.
"It means that Aaron Rodgers...And every pick's gonna be about this window that they might have with Aaron Rodgers, Jeremiah said. "It just tells me Aaron Rodgers was the guy that they were targeting."
ESPN's Adam Schefter expressed similar thoughts.
"The Pittsburgh Steelers still have a 'feeling of confidence' that Aaron Rodgers is going to wind up in Pittsburgh," Schefter said. "That has contributed to their decision to bypass a QB in the draft."
So if you were wondering why the Pittsburgh Steelers would take a depth edge rusher over a quarterback in the fourth round of the NFL Draft, that's why. It feels like a safe bet at this point that Aaron Rodgers is coming to Pittsburgh.