The Oakland Raiders, as they always seem to do, made a splash in last month's NFL Draft. They shocked all observers when they took Clemson pass-rusher Clelin Ferrell with the fourth overall pick. Oakland was widely expected to take Kentucky edge rusher Josh Allen with the pick.
Ferrell wasn't supposed to go until the middle or late first round, so his drafting was a shock to everybody, including himself. Jon Gruden does have a flair for the dramatic, so perhaps we shouldn't have all been too surprised.
Just because it was a surprising pick doesn't mean it was a bad one; however, and Ferrell will have plenty of time to prove everybody wrong. The evaluators at Pro Football Focus are clearly high on his game, as they shared the following graphic recently.
First glimpses of 4th overall pick, new Raiders edge defender Clelin Ferrell pic.twitter.com/VrkWQFEuC4
— PFF (@PFF) May 22, 2019
They gave Ferrell an 89.9 pass-rushing grade and an overall grade of 86.8. Those grades are very hard to get if you're familiar with PFF's grading scale. Ferrell was a star the last three years at Clemson, so it makes sense why PFF was so high on him.
In 15 games last year, Ferrell racked up 20 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks, adding two passes defended and three forced fumbles. He won the Ted Hendricks Award last season, given annually to the nation's top defensive end. He's a two-time national champion, and also was a first-team All-ACC selection each of the past two seasons.
Ferrell was hugely successful in college, but he'll have his work cut out for him in Oakland. The Raiders have regularly had one of the league's worst pass-rushing units the past few seasons, and it's a group without much talent currently. If Ferrell can revive the outside rush, this Raiders defense has a chance to be sneaky-good this season.
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