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Steelers Scouting Report: LSU EDGE BJ Ojulari

The Pittsburgh Steelers could eye a very talented edge rusher in the early portions of the NFL Draft.
Derrick Bell|
Steelers Scouting Report: LSU EDGE BJ Ojulari
Steelers Scouting Report: LSU EDGE BJ Ojulari

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Pittsburgh Steelers

Another talented pass rusher has declared for the NFL Draft. Could BJ Ojulari be on the Pittsburgh Steelers' radar?

A former 4-star prospect from Marietta, Georgia, Ojulari was an instant contributor as a freshman on the LSU Tigers' defense, notching a three-sack performance in one of his fourth career game. 

Ojulari won the starting job as a sophomore and proceeded to lead the team in sacks with seven. Entering his junior season, Ojulari was a known commodity within the NFL Draft community due to his pass-rushing prowess and disruptive capabilities. He finished his collegiate career with another strong campaign in 2022. 

The Steelers, along with the rest of the NFL, are always looking for pass rushers but where does Ojulari stack up in a talented edge class? 

Ojulari aligns primarily as a weakside outside linebacker in LSU's off-front. Mostly asked to operate out of a 2-point stance, Ojulari's main objective for the Tigers' defense was to rush the passer. Most of his rush opportunities came either on 7-tech or wide nine alignments where he can best use his speed off the edge. It's also worth mentioning that Ojulari has spent plenty of time rushing from both sides of the line of scrimmage and doesn't seem to have a noticeable preference for either side.

Strengths

First things first, Ojulari's intangibles are off the charts. Not only was the junior voted as a team captain, but he was also awarded the prestigious number 18 jersey by the LSU coaching staff. For those unfamiliar with the significance of the number, here's some context about what that means, straight from his head coach Brian Kelly. 

"The No. 18 is the player who brings all those traits of someone who leads in an extraordinary manner," Kelly said. "... The attention to detail, great focus, represents the program in a positive way in the classroom, in the community and on the field." 

A noted hard worker who also has NFL bloodlines, as his brother Azeez was a second-round draft pick by the New York Giants back in 2021.

The on-field scouting report on Ojulari revolves heavily around his athletic ability, particularly his speed. Impressive straight-line speed and explosiveness are two of the main things that stand out immediately on film. His overall frame is on the smaller side, as he's listed at 6-3, 250-pounds but he makes up for that with his athletic profile. 

Ojulari understands how he wins and plays to his strengths very well while understanding his current limitations as a player. Flushed with translatable traits, his value as a pass rusher is what will make him such a hot commodity throughout the draft process. 

As a pass rusher, Ojulari can be incredibly disruptive off of the edge. He's a speed-first rusher who routinely beats the outside shoulder of tackles with speed up the arch. The burst stands, and when he rolls off of his front foot, Ojulari has a lightning-quick first step to give him the advantage early in the rep. Ojulari creates chaos for quarterbacks at the top of their drops, frequently forcing opposing quarterbacks to step up into the pocket immediately to avoid him. He's a highly intelligent player who's aware of where he is in the pocket and when he feels himself getting too far upfield, he'll quickly spin back toward the quarterback instead of running himself out of the play.

Ojulari's go-to move is his ghost move where he'll flash his hands to get the tackle's feet to stop and shoot their hands before dipping underneath them untouched. When utilizing this move, Ojulari does an excellent job dipping his inside shoulder to reduce his surface area, making it incredibly difficult for tackles to get their hands on him to slow him down. There are plenty of examples of him giving top competition constant fits off of this one move alone. 

Another notable attribute Ojulari possesses as a pass rusher is his ability to bend through contact. When Ojulari gets to the apex of his rush, he will begin to flatten to the quarterback. Even when he's contacted by the offensive tackle, who is usually in recovery mode at that point, Ojulari shows plus ankle flexibility and bend in his lower half to be able to contort his body in some wicked ways on the way to the quarterback. 

It's not just the ability to withstand contact, continually fighting through the rep, but it's the speed and angles at which he is able to do, so that makes him so intriguing. 

Beyond the speed-dip or ghost move, Ojulari has a plethora of other pass-rushing moves at his disposal. He's got quick hands, and you'll see him flash a cross-chop, club-rip, and a two-hand swipe. 

To pair with his primary pass-rushing moves, he also possesses several counters that he'll work, depending on how opposing tackles react to his original rush path. His favorite inside counters are a club swim and inside swim move where he's able to create penetration almost immediately due to how sudden his movements are. 

Ojulari has a clear pass-rush plan that's improved heavily over his time in college. He'll set blockers up with tempo and pace while also showing some nuance with euro-steps and jab steps to get blockers off balance and/or leaning in one direction.

When LSU opted to move him inside on passing downs, deploying different fronts with Ojulari over the guard, he caused havoc. SEC guards just weren't fleet of foot enough to handle his lateral quickness and made quick work of them whenever he got the chance. Currently, Ojulari is a speed specialist first, but there are flashes of him converting speed to power using leg drive and natural leverage. 

While I don't think he has quite the length that his brother does, Ojulari destroyed the Ole Miss tackles over and over by making the first significant contact with his long arm and driving them back into the quarterback's lap.

Ojulari is a bit of a projection as a run defender at this current juncture, but he still owns some positive qualities in this regard. First, Ojulari can be disruptive with quick hands and sudden lower body movements to avoid blockers that are targeting him. He's a willing run defender who plays with high-quality effort and his speed is useful to run down blocks from the backside of run plays. Whenever SEC offenses elected to declare him as the conflict defender in read-option concepts, Ojulari has no problem carrying out his assignments. He's fairly solid in terms of hit power as he's not often seen getting dragged by ball carriers for additional yards after contact.

The coaching decisions behind this are a little bizarre, but Ojulari does have a good amount of experience dropping into zone coverage. In his final season at LSU, he dropped into coverage 16.2% of the time, according to PFF - quite a bit more than some of the other top edge defenders in the draft class. 

Most of these drops were into the flat or the curl/hook zones, and while there wasn't really anything noticeable, either good or bad, on tape that jumped out, he's fairly comfortable getting depth and playing in space. 

Weaknesses

He's put on a bunch of healthy weight since entering college, but there's no other way around it, Ojulari still needs to get stronger. 

He's not necessarily a complete liability in run defense, but some of the better tackles in the conference were able to displace him from gaps or take him completely out of the play. There were even times when tight ends were sustaining blocks in the trenches against him which was a bit worrisome. 

The lack of upper body strength also showed up in terms of stacking and shedding blocks, once a blocker has their hands on him, he's slow to disengage to get himself back into the mix. There are also some missed tackles on tape that need to be cleaned up as he needs to do a better job of wrapping guys up. 

He's already an impactful pass rusher, but in order for him to level up in that regard, more power and pop behind his hands would really help him put more fear into opposing tackles. The ghost move that he relies on heavily is an advanced move that most college tackles aren't ready for, but the NFL tackles won't respect the flashing of hands until he proves that he can run through their chest with any sort of consistency. He's going to be shorter than every tackle he'll go up against, and he needs to utilize that natural leverage to his advantage. With that in mind, he could also do a better job using his length. The pressure and sack production has always been there, but ideally, you'd see an added focus on getting the ball out as he's only forced two fumbles in his career.

As effective of a speed rusher as he is, Ojulari has made a habit of false stepping out of his stance. It's maddening to watch at times as you'll often see him pick his front foot up off of the ground first instead of rolling off of his front foot to explode upfield. You have to really be watching for it to notice it because he's so explosive otherwise that it hasn't been a huge deal for him in college. But this simple tweak to his stance and start could create a massive difference for him, turning some of those pressures or quarterback hits into more sack production. 

He's really fast, but he should be even faster. 

Numbers to Note

- Career totals: 77 tackles, 25.5 tackles for loss, 16.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles

- 2022 totals: 34 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble

- 18.0% pass rush win rate in 2022, 17th among power five EDGE rushers (PFF)

- Finished 6th in total pressures (54) in 2021, 10th in total pressures (49) in 2022 among power five edge rushers (PFF)

- 3.5 sacks, 7 quarterback hits in his first two games (Florida State/Mississippi State) of 2022

Projection

With off-the-charts intangibles, top-notch pass-rushing traits and superb athletic ability, there's plenty to be excited about when evaluating Ojulari as a prospect. He's gone toe-to-toe with great competition over the course of his career at LSU and more often than not, came out on the winning side of things. 

Early on as a rookie, he's likely going to be a pass rush specialist who gets on the field in obvious passing situations. His best fit will be as a 3-4 edge defender in a scheme that will utilize his ability to get upfield and get after the quarterback. In order for Ojulari to become an impactful every-down player, he'll need to get a bit stronger without sacrificing his twitch while continue improving against the run. 

It's important to keep in mind that Ojulari will not turn 21 years old until just a few weeks prior to the 2023 NFL Draft. It's reasonable to assume that he'll fill out his frame as he gets older and it also signals that we haven't seen anything close to the best of what he has to offer as a player. As an evaluator, there are roughly 8-10 guys each year that I label as "my guys" through the process meaning if I was in a draft room, I would be banging for the team to select them. Ojulari figures to be a permanent fixture on this year's list and I'm a big believer in his character, current skill set and potential ceiling down the line.

Ojulari carries a late-first, early-second round grade currently pending testing numbers and measurables. If the Steelers do not view Alex Highsmith as part of their long-term plans due to cost, Ojulari certainly fits the billing of what they should be looking for in a replacement. Not only is Pittsburgh's scheme the best fit for his skill set, but the idea that he wouldn't be immediately forced into a starting role as a rookie is also ideal. 

In the short term, this gives them quality edge depth behind their two best pass rushers and it could potentially give them a long-term option with experience in the event that Highsmith cannot be retained in the future. 

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Derrick Bell
DERRICK BELL

Derrick Bell is a University of Louisville grad who's covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2019. Prior to AllSteelers, Derrick contributed to Steel City Blitz. 

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