What History Says About Potential-Packed Packers Prospect Shemar Stewart

Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart is an elite size-speed prospect with minimal NFL production. Here’s a look at the NFL’s top pass rushers and some first-round busts.

Texas A&M Aggies defensive lineman Shemar Stewart | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In three weeks, the Green Bay Packers will be on the clock for the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

The Packers need to improve their front-four pass rush, general manager Brian Gutekunst and Matt LaFleur have said. Like most GMs, Gutekunst puts great importance on physical traits. The better the size and speed, the higher the upside. In a league in which great players win games, ceiling is more important than floor.

There’s a decent chance Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart will be available at No. 23. With elite size and speed, to say his physical traits are unprecedented would not be an overstatement. However, he had 1.5 sacks in 2022, 1.5 sacks in 2023 and 1.5 sacks in 2024.

Would Stewart be worthy of being the 23rd pick? That conversation no doubt has taken place. The Packers brought Stewart in for a predraft visit, which would indicate he’ll be on the list of first-round possibilities.

But how do college production and physical traits translate to an NFL career?

10-Sack Seasons in 2024

Last season, 17 NFL players recorded at least 10 sacks. Here’s how they did in college.

Trey Hendrickson: 2024 – 17.5 sacks. Final college season(s) – 13.5 sacks in 2015, 9.5 in 2016. NFL Draft – 103rd pick, 2017.

Myles Garrett: 2024 – 14 sacks. Final college season(s) – 8.5 sacks in 2016, 32.5 sacks in three seasons. NFL Draft – 1st pick, 2017.

Nik Bonitto: 2024 – 13.5 sacks. Final college season(s) – 8.0 sacks in 2020, 7.0 sacks in 2021. NFL Draft – 64th pick, 2022.

Kyle Van Noy: 2024 – 12.5 sacks. Final college season(s) – 13 sacks in 2012, 3.0 sacks in 2013. NFL Draft – 40th pick, 2014.

Jonathan Greenard: 2024 – 12 sacks. Final college season(s) – 9.5 sacks. NFL Draft – 90th pick, 2020.

Danielle Hunter: 2024 – 12 sacks. Final college season(s) – 1.5 sacks in 2014, 4.5 sacks in three seasons. NFL Draft – 88th pick, 2015.

Micah Parsons: 2024 – 12 sacks. Final college season(s) – 5.0 sacks in 2019, 6.5 sacks in two seasons. NFL Draft – 12th pick, 2021. (Note: Parsons played mostly off-the-ball linebacker at Penn State.)

Andrew Van Ginkel: 2024 – 11.5 sacks. Final college season(s) – 5.5 sacks in 2018, 12 sacks in two seasons. NFL Draft – 151st pick, 2019.

T.J. Watt: 2024 – 11.5 sacks. Final college season(s) – 11.5 sacks in 2016. NFL Draft – 30th pick, 2017.

Leonard Williams: 2024 – 11 sacks. Final college season(s) – 7.0 sacks in 2014, 20 sacks in three seasons. NFL Draft – 6th pick, 2015.

Will Anderson: 2024 – 11 sacks. Final college season(s) – 10 sacks in 2022, 17.5 sacks in 2021, 34.5 sacks in three seasons. NFL Draft – 3rd pick, 2023.

Travon Walker: 2024 – 10.5 sacks. Final college season(s) – 6.0 sacks in 2021, 9.5 sacks in three seasons. NFL Draft – 1st pick, 2022.

Jonathon Cooper: 2024 – 10.5 sacks. Final college season(s) – 3.5 sacks in 2020, 10 sacks in five seasons. NFL Draft – 239th pick, 2021.

Dante Fowler: 2024 – 10.5 sacks. Final college season(s) – 8.5 sacks in 2014. NFL Draft – 3rd pick, 2015.

Will McDonald: 2024 – 10.5 sacks. Final college season(s) – 5.0 sacks in 2022 but 10.5 sacks in 2020 and 2021. NFL Draft – 15th pick, 2013.

Zach Sieler: 2024 – 10 sacks. Final college season(s) – At Division II Ferris State, 7.0 sacks in 2017 and 16.5 sacks in 2016. NFL Draft – 238th pick, 2018.

Odafe Oweh: 2024 – 10 sacks. Final college season(s) – Zero sacks in seven games in 2020 and 7.0 sacks in three seasons. NFL Draft – 31st pick, 2021.

The Shemar Stewart Comparison

That list shows a lot of the NFL’s sack-masters were accomplished pass rushers in college – maybe not all great but most of them good. But not all of them. There are two perfect comparisons to Stewart in the potential vs. production debate: Oweh and Hunter.

Penn State’s Oweh, who ran his 40 in a receiver-like 4.37 seconds and finished with a 9.92 RAS, required some patience. Taken two picks after the Packers selected Eric Stokes, Oweh had seasons of five, three and five sacks before a breakout 10-sack season last year.

Hunter, who wasn’t too far behind Stewart and Oweh on the size-athleticism spectrum with a 9.88 RAS, had more sacks as a rookie (six) than at Oklahoma State (five). In nine seasons, he has 99.5 sacks, including more than 10 sacks in each of his last five healthy seasons.

First-Round Busts

On the other side, not every first-round pass rusher has been able to rush the passer. In the five drafts from 2019 through 2023:

Clelin Ferrell: Career – 17 sacks in six seasons. Final college season(s) – 11.5 sacks in 2018, 27 sacks in three seasons. Draft – 4th pick in 2019. No Relative Athletic Score.

L.J. Collier: Career – 6.5 sacks in six seasons. Final college season(s) – 6.0 sacks in 2018. NFL Draft – 29th pick in 2019. 3.24 RAS.

K’Lavon Chaisson: Career – 8.0 sacks in five seasons. Final college season(s) – 6.5 sacks in 2019. NFL Draft – 20th pick in 2020. No RAS.

Payton Turner: Career – 5.0 sacks in four seasons. Final college season(s) – 5.0 sacks in five games in 2020; 10.0 sacks in four seasons. NFL Draft – 28th pick in 2021. 9.74 RAS.

Myles Murphy: Career – 3.0 sacks in two seasons. Final college season(s) – 6.5 sacks in 2022, 7.0 sacks in 2021. NFL Draft – 28th pick in 2023. 9.71 RAS.

Felix Anudkie-Uzomah: Career – 3.0 sacks in two seasons. Final college season(s) – 8.5 sacks in 2022, 11.0 sacks in 2021. NFL Draft – 31st pick in 2023. 8.73 RAS.

Top Relative Athletic Scores

Over the last decade of drafts, these were the top Relative Athletic Scores among NFL edge rushers. The position listed is the position they were given at the Scouting Combine and the position at which their RAS was based.

LB Lorenzo Carter, 10.00. A third-round pick in 2018, he has 21.5 sacks in seven seasons.

DE Myles Garrett, 9.99. The first overall pick in 2017 and 2023 Defensive Player of the Year, Garrett is a gold-standard pass rusher with 102.5 sacks in eight seasons, including at least 14 in each of the last four.

DE Travon Walker, 9.99. The No. 1 overall pick in 2022, Walker had 3.5 sacks as a rookie but 10 in 2023 and 10.5 in 2024.

LB Baron Browning, 9.98. A third-round pick in 2021, Browning has bounced between linebacker and pass rusher. He has 11.5 sacks in four seasons.

DE Rashan Gary, 9.95. The 12th pick of the 2019 draft, Gary has 39 sacks in six seasons, including 32 the last four seasons. He’s still looking for his first 10-sack season; he had six in nine games in 2022 before suffering a torn ACL.

DE Odafe Oweh, 9.92. The 31st pick of the 2021 draft, Oweh had 13 sacks in his first three seasons but 10 sacks last year.

LB T.J. Watt, 9.92. The 30th pick of the 2017 draft, the 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year is a three-time NFL sacks champion with 108 sacks in eight seasons.

DE Boye Mafe, 9.91. A second-round pick in 2022, Mafe has 18 sacks in three seasons, highlighted by nine sacks in 2023.

DE Montez Sweat, 9.90. The 26th pick of the 2019 draft, Sweat has 47 sacks in six seasons, highlighted by a career-high 12.5 sacks with the Commanders and Bears in 2023.

DE Brian Burns, 9.90. The 16th pick of the 2019 draft, Burns has 54.4 sacks in six seasons. He has one 10-sack season (12.5 in 2022).

LB Kendall Donnerson, 9.89. If this name vaguely rings a bell, he was a seventh-round pick by the Packers in 2018. He never played in a regular-season game.

DE Danielle Hunter, 9.88. A third-round pick in 2015, Hunter is a five-time Pro Bowler with 99.5 sacks in nine seasons. He has five seasons with at least 12 sacks.

DE Jordan Willis, 9.88. A third-round pick in 2017, Willis had 10.5 sacks in six seasons.

DE Aidan Hutchinson, 9.88. The second overall pick in 2022, Hutchinson has 28.5 sacks in 39 games in three seasons. He had 7.5 sacks in just five games in 2024.

DE Vic Beasley, 9.87. The eighth overall pick in 2015, Beasley led the NFL with 15.5 sacks in 2016. He finished with 37.5 sacks in six seasons, including zero in 10 games during his final season in 2020.

DE Jaelan Phillips, 9.87. The 18th overall pick in 2021, Phillips has 23 sacks in four seasons, but a torn Achilles in 2023 and a torn ACL in 2024 limited him to 12 games in those seasons.

DE Yaya Diaby, 9.87. A third-round pick in 2023, Diaby has 12 sacks in two seasons.

LB Leonard Floyd, 9.81. The ninth pick in 2016, Floyd has 66.5 sacks in nine seasons, including at least 8.5 sacks in each of the last five seasons.

DE Preston Smith, 9.80. A second-round pick in 2015, Smith has 70.5 sacks in 10 seasons, highlighted by 12 sacks in his debut season with the Packers in 2019.

How About the Packers?

For what it’s worth, the Packers have had 16 individual seasons of 10-plus sacks since 2000. Six were by first-round picks (Clay Matthews had four; Julius Peppers and Nick Perry had one apiece) and six were by fifth-round picks (Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila had four and Aaron Kampman had two). The others were by ZaDarius Smith (fourth round, twice), Preston Smith (second round) and Kyler Fackrell (third round).

Matthews, famously, wasn’t a star at USC. He had 5.5 sacks in four seasons, with 4.5 coming as a senior.

Here are the numbers for Green Bay’s top pass rushers in 2024.

Rashan Gary: 2024 – 7.5 sacks. Final college season(s) – 3.5 sacks in 2018, 6.0 sacks in 2017. NFL Draft – 12th pick, 2019.

Devonte Wyatt: 2024 – 5.0 sacks. Final college season(s) – 2.5 sacks in 2021, 5.0 sacks in four seasons. NFL Draft – 28th pick, 2022.

Kingsley Enagbare: 2024 – 4.5 sacks. Final college season(s) – 4.5 sacks in 2021, 6.0 sacks in 2020. NFL Draft – 179th pick, 2022.

Lukas Van Ness: 2024 – 3.0 sacks. Final college season(s) – 6.5 sacks in 2022, 13.5 sacks in two seasons. NFL Draft – 13th pick in 2023.