Is Jack Sawyer Lions' EDGE of Future?

With the Detroit Lions eliminated from the postseason, it's time for general manager Brad Holmes to turn his attention to his offseason priority list. For Holmes, this includes figuring out what he and the organization will do during the 2025 NFL Draft, set for April 24-26 in Green Bay.

Detroit currently holds six picks in the draft, including the No. 28 overall selection in the first round.

Holmes & Co. would be wise to use the aforementioned pick on an impact defensive player.

Don't get me wrong, the Lions did make vast improvements on the defensive side of the ball in 2024. They went from the No. 23-ranked team in points allowed per game in 2023 (23.2) to the No. 7-ranked unit in the stat this past season (20.1). However, by no stretch of the imagination does it mean that the unit is a finished product.

If you watched even an ounce of Lions football in ‘24, you would have realized that the organization is still in dire need of two things on defense: cornerback help and a complementary pass-rush piece for EDGE Aidan Hutchinson.

For Detroit to take the next step as a team (and ultimately get to its first Super Bowl in franchise history), it needs to make a concerted effort to upgrade those two areas.

If the Lions were to go the EDGE route in the early rounds of the draft, Ohio State's Jack Sawyer would be a solid target.

Sawyer, standing in at 6-foot-5, 260 pounds, is coming off a highly productive senior campaign in which he recorded a career-best nine sacks and helped the Buckeyes win the College Football Playoff national championship. He also amassed 38 total hurries, 16 quarterback hits and a 90.6 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. Additionally, he earned an 89.2 pass-rushing grade and an 82.9 run-defense mark from PFF.

Sawyer is a high-motor, high-IQ player who profiles as a capable pass-rusher and run-stopper at the next level. He is both physical at the point of attack against the run and powerful enough as a pass-rusher to collapse the pocket and get to the quarterback. He'd certainly aid a Lions team that ranked towards the bottom-half of the league in total sacks in 2024 (37.0).

Yet, Sawyer isn't the most athletic, and doesn't possess high-level get-off ability coming around the edge. These two attributes will likely limit his ability to become a high-impact quarterback disruptor at the next level.

Subsequently, there’s a strong likelihood he won't be Detroit's first-round pick this April. Instead, Holmes & Co. would be better off targeting the Ohio State product with their second-round selection (No. 60 overall).