Clelin Ferrell (Clemson)

I was overtly critical of Ferrell in the Twitter thread I created, and that’s because – frankly – I personally don’t see a first round prospect.

A lot of Ferrell’s tape is bad, and actually made me appreciate Sweat’s tape a little more than I had at the time; I won’t deny that Ferrell does some good things, but he also does plenty of bad that doesn’t sit well with me in regards to Carolina’s DL needs.

As a part of Clemson’s two National Championship teams, Ferrell did finish his senior season with 55 tackles, 11.5 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, and three forced fumbles. His 11.5 sacks were seventh in the nation in 2018.

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On this play against Pitt…

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…Ferrell is able to create pressure off Clemson’s stunt, along with a blitzing linebacker.

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Ferrell has a clear angle in which he can bring down the quarterback for the sack – and this sack in particular should be pretty easy to achieve.

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But somehow, some way, Ferrell gets left in the dust as he’s not even close to sacking the quarterback. Let’s look at how this exactly happened in full motion.

via GIPHY

A serious concern for me with Ferrell’s play is his lack of quickness. His bend is seriously lacking and even though he has a good angle on the quarterback, like in the above clip, he isn’t fast enough to catch him.

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One thing I really enjoy about Ferrell’s tape is how quick he is off the snap. He has one of the best first steps of the pass rushers I’ve watched from this class, and this should be a foundation on which he can build the rest of his skill set during his career in the NFL.

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Outside of that, I can’t find a lot that’s appealing about him.

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In my study, I’ve found that if the opposing team’s quarterback or running back had any hint of elusive ability…

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…Ferrell was getting juked.

via GIPHY

You might call this nitpicking, but there’s plenty of tape where Ferrell is straight up missing tackles; he creates enough pressure on his own, but his ability to tackle in space, to me, doesn’t feel nearly as strong as his peers and I see that as a major problem.

The pressure he created in college will get him drafted highly and if you like him as a prospect, that’s fine. Personally, I see a flawed prospect that must improve his tackling ability and get quicker before we’re ready to talk about him as being worth a first round pick, because as of this writing, I don’t see it.

 

Conclusions

At the end of the day, I think Brian Burns is the guy the Panthers should draft at 16 if he’s available, and it’s not close. His versatility and technique are sensational, and I think he’s every bit as good as Nick Bosa and Josh Allen – if not better. Montez Sweat’s tape isn’t as strong of a prospect but he’s good in his own right and Clelin Ferrell has a very pleasing get off from the line of scrimmage but also brings a lot of flaws he has to polish once he gets drafted.

So if it were up to me, I would draft Burns at 16 given he’s available – take him there and never look back.

 

Johnny Kinsley
Contributor
In addition to The Riot Report, Johnny Kinsley writes for The Phinsider, Dynasty League Football, and 49ers Hub. He is a devoted member of the Church of Curtis Samuel.