Clemson pro Clelin Ferrell ranked in NFL Top 100 free agents

Clelin Ferrell can see where else he could make an impact in the NFL this offseason. (USA TODAY/Mark Rebilas)

by TigerNet Staff - Wed Mar 01 17:10:35 GMT-04:00 2023

Clelin Ferrell tied for the highest NFL draft selection out of Clemson at the time in 2019 after a standout college career.

After struggling to find footing in four seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders, he will hope his next destination brings a breakthrough.

Ferrell was ranked 96th among the top-100 NFL free agents going into the next league year by Pro Football Talk recently.

Around time missed due to injury, Ferrell logged 13 sacks and 63 QB hurries over 1,874 snaps with the Raiders, according to Pro Football Focus. He is coming off of playing his second-most snaps (492) with his second-most sacks in a year (3) with a PFF grade of 63.8.

Ferrell's best PFF grade came as a second-year player (76.1) with 18 tackles, two forced fumbles and two sacks in 461 snaps.

ESPN listed Ferrell among the players needing a fresh start.

"It's not Ferrell's fault the Raiders used the No. 4 overall draft pick on him in 2019; edge rusher was their primary need that year and Ferrell was their second-ranked player at that position behind Nick Bosa, who went second in that draft. Ferrell's production has dipped since he started 15 games as a rookie and had 4.5 sacks. In 15 combined games since, he has 5.5 sacks, with the Raiders bringing in Yannick Ngakoue and Chandler Jones the past two years to replace him. Ferrell has been a solid special teams player, but if he wants a fresh start, it would seemingly have to be somewhere else."

With a No. 4 overall selection, Ferrell, tying school-high pro football selections for Sammy Watkins, Gaines Adams and Banks McFadden as well, was slotted a four-year deal worth $31.4 million.

Ferrell won the Ted Hendricks Award for the nation's top defensive end as a redshirt junior and earned consensus first-team All-America status. He was also a first-team All-American as a redshirt sophomore.

He completed his college career with 166 tackles, 50 tackles for loss, 27.0 sacks, 51 quarterback pressures, seven pass breakups and five caused fumbles in 2,167 snaps over 44 games (all starts).