Over the last three years, Joseph Ossai quickly emerged as one of the Texas Longhorns’ top defensive players. When he moved to the defense’s JACK position in 2020, he became the kind of force around whom opposing coaching staffs build their offensive protections and game plans.
Despite opting out of the Longhorns’ bowl game to start preparing for the NFL Draft, Ossai led the team with five sacks and 16 tackles for loss — each was more than twice the total put up by any of his teammates — and finished third on the team with 55 tackles.
His performance earned him consensus All-Big 12 and All-America honors, and prompted the Cincinnati Bengals to select him in the third round, with 69th overall pick, in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Many viewed Ossai as the driving force for the UT defense. But how will he fit in with the Cincinnati defense?
The Bengals’ defense[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level3)] operates a 4-3 as its base alignment. The JACK position at which Ossai thrived in Austin is something of a hybrid position that maximizes players’ pass-rushing ability, but he is expected to start his professional career at defensive end.
Sam Hubbard is one of the Bengals’ top returning defensive players and is thought to be a virtual lock to start at one end position; over the offseason, Cincinnati former New Orleans Saints defensive end Trey Hendrickson … and it’s safe to assume the team didn’t agree to pay him $60 million over the next four seasons to come off the bench.
So Ossai, at least initially, has a number of roles: he’ll be among the first replacements if either Hubbard or Hendrickson gets hurt, and can fill in as a designated pass rusher in obvious passing downs, especially for Hubbard, who while stout against the run mustered just two sacks last season. By comparison, Hendrickson was third in the NFL last season with 13.5 sacks, meaning that when the opponent faces third-and-long, he definitely is not coming off the field.
Ossai acknowledges that he remains a work in progress, and has embraced the process of learning and refining the techniques needed for success at the NFL level. He also likely will be asked to stand up as a linebacker in certain situational packages.
“I’m still developing,” he said during a virtual press conference shortly after he was drafted. “I was a pass rusher in high school, I came to college and for two years, I was asked to stand up and do a little more dropping (into coverage). But my third year, the defensive staff changed and I was asked to rush the passer a little bit more. I didn’t mind the switch-up, but I do know that I need a little bit more refining, and that’s something that I look forward to doing. I love working — working hard is my M.O. If I was perfect in everything I did, I’m pretty sure I’d be bored, because there’s nothing to look forward to, there’s nothing to get better at, there’s nothing to work at.”
Ossai surely will be included on several of the Bengals’ special teams. In the weeks leading up to the draft, one of the first attributes repeatedly brought up by analysts — those who had seen the Longhorns in person and those who evaluated him only via video — was Ossai’s “motor,” his non-stop energy and pursuit. Ossai credited the origin of that never-ending pursuit to two things: the competition he had with his brothers when they were young, and a stern lecture he got from a coach when he was in high school who scolded Ossai for giving up on a pass to a tight end that had presented an opportunity for a potential turnover; a few plays later, he chased down an opponent and punched the ball free.
That play, he said, flipped a switch inside him. Since then, Ossai said he has tried to give chase on every play, hoping to recreate the feeling of causing a turnover. That eagerness to pursue is one of the attributes that caught the attention of the Bengals’ scouts and coaches.
“He’s relentless. He really brings a nice physical presence, has a nice burst off the edge. I really like what he brings to the table,” Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor said after the second day of the draft. “We like guys that finish, and the play’s not over until they finish. They got around the ball, put their hand on the ball. That’s what he shows over and over again on tape. That says a lot about your character, and even if you don’t know the kid — or, the man — you get a chance to see that on tape.”
Barring an injury to either Hendrickson or Hubbard, Ossai likely starts his career as a rotational player on defense, one who can fill a number of roles while he learns the system and the NFL game. But just as the Bengals didn’t commit big bucks to Hendrickson to make him an expensive reserve, neither did they spend a third-round selection on a player they expected to be long gone by the time they picked in order for Ossai to become a career role player. Look for the Bengals to throw a lot at him and accelerate his evolution into a key part of the Cincinnati defense.
“We’re really impressed with his character, and just our interactions with him, and had some coaches down at the (UT) Pro Day,” Taylor said. “We really like the human being, we really like the football player, and we’re excited to have him.”
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