Las Vegas Raiders: Grading Year 2 of the 2019 NFL Draft class
By Nico Di Fede
Raiders No. 4 overall pick, Clelin Ferrell – DE
After a disappointing rookie season, where the Clemson product tallied only 4.0 sacks, Clelin Ferrell had a slightly improved sophomore season, though the statistics wouldn’t show it.
Ferrell went down from 4.0 sacks in 2019, to only 2.5 this year, and his tackles for a loss tally also went down from 8.0 to 3.0 this year. But beyond the numbers, his play against the run was great, and because of that, his lack of pass rush production didn’t prevent him from getting a solid grade of 76.1 per ProFootballFocus.
His best game of the year came in Week 13 against the New York Jets, a game that saw him record seven tackles, three quarterback hits, one deflection, and two strip-sacks. Ferrell was the highest-graded player on the Las Vegas Raider’s defense through Week 13 after his impressive performance, though that may not be saying much considering how bad they were as a unit.
While his play against the run was stout enough to be given a solid grade from PFF, they aren’t the end all be all, and his overall production still doesn’t cut it for an EDGE rusher that was picked 4th overall in the draft. You draft a guy that high expecting him to be a productive pass rusher, if not elite.
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ Josh Allen seemed to most people the obvious selection when he was still there at the 4th pick. He had a solid rookie season, accumulating over 10.0 sacks despite only starting four games. His production went down this year, however, as he basically matched Ferrell’s sack total in only eight games played.
The Carolina Panthers Brian Burns would have also been considered a reach at pick No. 4, but he has also had better production than Clelin Ferrell thus far. At the time of the draft, I personally wouldn’t have minded the selection could the front office not trade back.
So while the performance of Clelin Ferrell was not terrible this year, the pick itself still does not look very good in hindsight. This, of course, is an indictment on Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock and not Clelin Ferrell himself.
2020 Performance Grade: C
Pick Grade: D