Baltimore Ravens take Penn State EDGE Jayson Oweh in NFL Draft
A second former Nittany Lion found out his first NFL team Thursday night. EDGE Jayson Oweh was selected No. 31 overall by the Baltimore Ravens after former teammate Micah Parsons was selected No. 12 by the Dallas Cowboys.
Oweh spent three years at Penn State where he frequently displayed his freakish athleticism.
The former Nittany Lion left the school after his redshirt sophomore season in 2020. He didn’t register any sacks in his final season, but was still selected to the All-Big Ten first team by the coaches and the All-Big Ten second team by the media.
His selection came in large part due to the disruption he caused, even if it didn’t result in any sacks. Oweh tallied 20 solo tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and a pass breakup in his final season at Penn State.
Still, his lack of experience and production was a concern for some analysts.
“What scares me about taking him in the first round (is) he’s not polished enough,” draft analyst Steve Muench told the Centre Daily Times in January. “When I’m taking a guy in the first round, I want guys that are gonna be a little bit safer than that. You don’t want to miss on your first-round picks. ... There are times where he puts it together, and it looks awesome. I think he’s got a really high ceiling, especially as a pass rusher — he looks like a bull in a china shop at times, with just how powerful he can be.”
Oweh was aware of the criticisms being levied against him in the pre-draft process, but brushed them off. He said at Penn State’s pro day in March that the best is yet to come for him on the field.
“If you really understand what is going and you watch film, you don’t just look at the box score, you understand that that’s not even who I am,” Oweh said. “If you go off (the game against) Indiana, that game, I would have had five sacks that game if I wasn’t just a split second off. ... My best years in football are ahead of me.”
His upside is plentiful and he showed the type of athleticism that defensive line coaches dream about molding. Oweh ran a 4.36 at 6-foot-5, 257 pounds at the pro day and proved why he was named to Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks List” two offseasons in a row, prior to both his redshirt freshman and redshirt sophomore seasons.
Oweh’s selection marks the first time Penn State has had multiple first round picks in the same draft since 2003 when four Nittany Lions were taken that early.
