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.
