Jack Sawyer
Jack Sawyer
The Pittsburgh Steelers are hoarding wealth at the outside linebacker position. T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith already form one of the better edge-rushing duos in the league when both are healthy. Behind them, Nick Herbig has emerged, enough to earn a $100 million contract extension this offseason. And behind those three is Jack Sawyer, heading into his second NFL season.
The former fourth-round pick didn’t get much of a chance to showcase himself last year, playing less than 300 defensive snaps. But he showed enough promise that former Steelers linebacker Vince Williams has high expectations for him.
“I think he’s on the Highsmith trajectory. I think Jack, by the end of this year, you might be looking at him with his development, that he might end up being, looking around the league, as a legit number two,” Williams said Thursday on SNR’s Steelers Blitz show. “As of today, he’s a number three. But by the end of this year, I could see him really getting better. Think about who he has to learn from, think about what’s in front of him.”
When speaking about Sawyer being a number three, Williams is referring to where he’d rank in the average edge-rushing room across the league, not in Pittsburgh. For the time being, he’s Pittsburgh’s fourth option.
That may stop him from taking a huge step forward in 2026. The Steelers have three highly paid edge rushers for at least one more season, so Jack Sawyer is going to have to scavenge snaps where he can. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t come a time when the Steelers have to rely on him.
In his rookie year, that happened as late as Week 16 in Detroit. Entering a must-win game, the Steelers were without both Watt and Herbig, which thrust Sawyer into a starting role. He didn’t disappoint in his first and only start of his rookie campaign. He had five tackles with one coming for a loss and two quarterback hits. Sawyer played 66 defensive snaps on the day and was part of a defense that completely stifled the Lions’ talented rushing attack.
He’s got some things to clean up in Year 2, as every Day 3 draft pick does. But Jack Sawyer showed a knack for making plays in his limited action last year. And Williams is certainly correct about the excellent role models he has to learn from. Sawyer is in one of the best situations a young edge rusher could ask for, and Williams is expecting big things of him in 2026.