Ravens, Oweh Not Concerned About Sack Numbers at Penn State

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Jayson Oweh did not manage a sack in his final season at Penn State.

Nonetheless, he had a huge impact on the games that he played and the Ravens are confident that trend will continue in the NFL.

"That’s something we talked about, but we also watched the tape," Ravens GM Eric DeCosta said about the sack numbers. "Then you look at his athletic ability, and just for that very fact, we feel like he’s a great fit in our defense. He’s an aggressive player. He runs to the ball very fast. He’s in the backfield constantly. He’s knocking people back into the backfield. He’s beating tackles into the backfield. He runs things down from behind.

"I think he’s a perfect fit for our defense. I know our defensive coaches are excited. I think our players are going to love him."

Last season as a redshirt sophomore Oweh had 38 tackles, including 6.5 tackles for loss, without a sack over seven games. The prior year, he managed five sacks over 11 games.

Oweh, 6-foot-5, 251 pounds, is an impressive athlete who ran a 4.37 in the 40-yard dash, and also had a 39.5 vertical leap, along with a 134-inch broad jump during his Pro Day.

Coming to Baltimore 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/IkT1aTztrq
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) April 30, 2021

Moments after Oweh was selected by the Ravens with the 31st overall pick in the 2021 draft, Oweh also scoffed at the notion that his sack numbers would not have a negative impact on his draft status.

"I knew that people that really understood and watched football, understand what I was doing out there, and that sacks weren’t where it ended with me," Oweh said. "I was very disruptive; I caused a lot of havoc; I was very stout in the run game; I was beating my man; I was always there. So, people really understood that the zero sacks thing, that had no definition of who I was as a player.”

After losing Matthew Judon, Yannick Ngakoue and Jihad Ward in free agency, Oweh fills a huge need for the Ravens. He will have an opportunity to start as a rookie. He's looking forward to seizing that opportunity.

"I still have so much in the tank, so much untapped potential that, me, I don’t even know, and the people that drafted me don’t even know yet," Oweh said. "I feel like I can be the most dominant defensive end, the most dominant player – defensive player – in this draft, just off of me learning how to get better, learning the scheme better, and just getting more experience as a player. I’ve only been playing for five years. A lot of these other guys have been playing their whole life, so you can do with that what you want.”