Inside Look At UDFA's: Ohio University DL Casey Sayles- Seals the Win

Ed "Pi Double i" Henderson

WorldWide Rams

​​​The next player from my UDFA's series is a kid I’ve enjoyed the most evaluating who played at Ohio University. Casey Sayles, The 6-foot-3, and 288-pound defensive lineman have a very high hill to climb, to reach the Rams 53-man roster. His skills seem to emulate a current Ram defensive lineman, Louis Trinca-Pasat, who collegiately played at the University of Iowa.

After reviewing Sayles game film, his quickness and explosion stood out the most with the evaluation of his skill level. Being very agile, he can play the one-three-and-five technique on the defensive line, with a borage of counter moves.

The 2016 season, Sayles played in 14 games registering 32 tackles (six and a half for losses), five sacks and three passes defended, which all earned him third-team All-MAC (Mid-American Conference) player honors.

Sayles batted down five pass attempts over the last two seasons and tied him 10th amongst all interior defensive linemen last season, with 27 quarterback hurries.

Sayles career total of 37 total QB pressures, were higher than defensive linemen that were drafted such as Seattle Seahawk's Malik McDowell, Cleveland Browns Caleb Brantley, and Philadelphia Eagles Elijah Qualls. Sayles provoked 8.6 percent of his pressure on pass rushes, which was 24th best in the 2016 FBS season.

Sayles is considered to be my sleeper candidate to make some noise on the Rams practice field, to achieve a spot on the 53-man roster. Un-drafted by the 32 NFL teams has left nothing but venom in his veins, in which he is out to prove those organizations wrong, and will be the fuel that lights his fire. If Sayles is caught up in a numbers game, expect the Rams to reclaim him once he clears waivers to the teams practice squad. In my opinion, Sayles will have a career on an NFL 53-man roster soon.

Casey Sayles Highlights

​​The Rams played the Oakland Raiders last Saturday, as Sayles was able to provide his resume to 31 other teams in the NFL if it doesn't work for him in Los Angeles.  Rams were needing to protect the lead late in the fourth quarter; the Raiders need to convert on a fourth and ten yards to extend the game for the go-ahead score.

Casey Sayles Sack Against Raiders

​Raiders quarterback, Conner Cook, dropped back to pass to attempt to locate an open receiver. Being pressured from his right side by defensive end Andy Molumba, he scrambled to his left to escape the pressure. Sayles lined up as the right defensive tackle, displayed great hands and arms strength by extending out denying the offensive lineman to divert his pass rush.  As Cook went left, Sayles beats his initial blocker, and Raiders tight-end Pharaoh Brown attempted to help, but it served as little too late, Sayles went by sacking Cook to seal the victory for the Rams. 

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