NFL Draft Prospects 2019: Edge Rusher - Clelin Ferrell, Clemson
A former all-state defensive end from Virginia, Clelin Ferrell was a top ten recruit at the position despite tearing an ACL his senior year. When he arrived down in South Carolina, he continued to miss time with a hand injury and was forced to redshirt the 2015 season. However, ever since he first stepped on the field for the Tigers he has dominated, sharing the Defensive Rookie of the Year award with an even higher recruit in Dexter Lawrence.
These last two years he has been a consecutive first-team All-American with a combined 38 tackles for loss, 21 sacks and five forced fumbles. He also won a couple of national championships and was an integral part in some of Clemson’s biggest games during that stretch.
At 6’4”, 265 pounds with 34-inch arms, Ferrell controls the point of attack in the ground game with close to perfect 90-degree angles between his calf and hamstrings as well as thighs and torso and he can change angles to squeeze gaps or widen the edge against outside plays. He has the strength in his arms to stack the blocker and just pull him to the side once the ball-carrier is in range.
Ferrell will also bury his shoulder into the blocker to mess up plays and makes running backs try to improvise. There are even some plays where he is in the backfield so fast that he swallows the running back before the puller can even put hands on him. Ferrell shows football smarts when diagnosing screen passes or reacting to the ball carrier's movement. He will pursue quick throws to the outside and just plays with a non-stop motor in general.
Ferrell’s snap anticipation puts tackles at a disadvantage from the get-go already and there are some snaps where he is two yards in the backfield already before the tackle has even completed his slide-step. He shows flashes of being able to win with multiple moves. His go-to combat, however, is that speed rush converting to a chop-rip.
Number 99 in orange has experience rushing from a two, three and four-point stance. I thought Ferrell got a lot more technically sound with his hand-work coming into last season and now flashes direct transitions from the club to the rip or swim-hand.
For as much burst as he has around the edge, the Clemson D-end is really a speed-to-power specialist who can absolutely put blockers on skates. He changes things up with an up-and-under when he feels like tackles are ducking their heads into contact with a downward swipe to clear himself and he makes those guys look foolish at times.
Ferrell added 43 extra pressures to his 13 sacks last season. He had a near-sack on pretty much every play of the final drive versus Texas A&M last year when they couldn’t double him and he ran right through Alabama’s Jonah Williams in the 2019 National Championship game, who is largely regarded as the draft’s most pro-ready and consistent offensive tackle. Ferrell gets his arms into the passing lanes and on sprint-out passes with a lead-blocker, he simply runs through the back.
Even though he improved in that area, I want less wasted movement with hesitation moves and more refined technique from Ferrell. He performs a beautiful spin move on one snap, but for every one of those, there’s another one where he ends up standing straight across the offensive tackle.
Ferrell gets the edge with his burst and hands rather than actual bend, which leads to plays where he has already won his matchup pretty much, but can’t quite turn the corner. What is most confusing however are his second and third steps, when you look how explosive he is with his initial one. Those two areas often allow tackles to just guide Ferrell past the quarterback and limit his ability to finish for even more sacks. Ferrell is a very reckless player, who loses control at times and doesn’t always adjusts his rush on the fly especially well.
With experience from a two-point stance and limited responsibilities in coverage in shallow zones, Ferrell could probably play 3-4 outside linebacker in most schemes, but I think he is at his best when he can put his hand in the dirt and just get after it.
The kid is an all-out player with outstanding physical gifts and production in his team’s biggest games. His bag of tricks isn’t as big as some other guys have and he is not as technically sound as he has to be at the next level, but I don’t see anything that would really hold him back from getting there.
Grade: Mid-first