When the Oakland Raiders made the pick of Clelin Ferrell at No. 4 overall in the 2019 NFL draft, it shocked everyone watching. The pick was considered a massive reach as several players were unanimously graded higher, including Kentucky’s Josh Allen and Florida State’s Brian Burns.
Unfortunately, the skepticism of the pick has proved to be right so far. Ferrell has struggled as a pass-rusher in his four career games. He is currently Pro Football Focus’ 99th-ranked edge defender out of 102 with an overall grade of 47.4.
According to Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox, Ferrell has been the team’s biggest disappointment so far in the 2019 season. Take a look at Knox’s thoughts on why he is down on the former Clemson defensive end after just four games:
Making the jump from college to the NFL isn’t easy, so the fact that Clelin Ferrell has only 10 tackles and a sack in four games isn’t in itself disappointing. The disappointment with those numbers is because the Oakland Raiders selected Ferrell fourth overall and ahead of pass-rushing prospects such as Josh Allen and Brian Burns. Burns already has 3.5 sacks, while Allen has 3.0.
Ferrell’s production has also been disappointing because he was supposed to be the player who revitalized the Raiders pass rush. Oakland has just nine sacks, tied for 23rd in the league.
Obviously, Ferrell’s career is just getting started, and he has plenty of time to show that he is a better player than Allen or Burns. But not only has he been outplayed by those first-round picks, but fourth-round pick Maxx Crosby already appears to be further along than Ferrell.
Ideally, Oakland would love for Ferrell and Crosby to develop into bookends at the defensive end position. Crosby appears well on his way to doing so, while Ferrell has been a little slow out of the gate. It’s not time to panic yet about the No. 4 pick, but he needs to show improvement over the team’s final 11 games of the season.
