Penn State Football linebacker Jayson Oweh‘s NFL Draft stock truly is in the eye of the beholder, and that becomes especially evident with every NFL Mock Draft projection that gets released.
Many scouts and teams see tantalizing athletic potential in Oweh and are willing overlook a relative lack of production last season. Meanwhile, ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. questions whether Oweh should have even declared for the draft, and believes he might have been wiser to return to Happy Valley for one more season.
Put Pro Football Focus in the former category, as the outlet’s Steve Palazzolo projects Oweh as the No. 16 overall pick of the Arizona Cardinals in his latest 2021 NFL Mock Draft:
"Oweh is another excellent athlete who has started to round out his game. He improved significantly against the run in 2020, and he’s posted back-to-back years of 80.0-plus pass-rush grades. With his get-off and length, Oweh is just scratching the surface, and like Paye, he may be even better in the NFL than he was in college."
Oweh has certainly been disruptive for the Nittany Lions, even if the numbers don’t show it. This past season, Oweh produced just 38 total tackles with zero sacks, after producing five sacks as a red-shirt freshman in 2019.
At 6-foot-5 and 252 pounds, Oweh has the ideal frame and plenty of speed and explosiveness to vault up draft boards across the league this spring. Whether he lands in the top-20 could depend on how well he tests at the NFL Combine and during the Nittany Lions’ Pro Day.
The Cardinals could be an ideal fit for Oweh, particularly if Arizona is unable to franchise tag or ultimately loses dominant edge rusher Haason Reddick in free agency this offseason. Even if Reddick returns, pairing him on the opposite side of Oweh would be a solid foundation for a defense tasked with defending the high-powered offenses of the NFC West.
Will the NFL Mock Drafts ultimately proven right, or Mel Kiper’s concerns brought to the fore? It is certainly going to be an interesting — and important — few months ahead for Oweh.