Best 2021 NFL breakout candidate from every team
By Randy Gurzi
Las Vegas Raiders: Clelin Ferrell, EDGE
To this point in his young career, Clelin Ferrell has been labeled a bust. It’s not 100 percent his fault, however, since he was over-drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders regime. Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock have been the kings of taking players far too early, especially when they come from a championship program —‚ take Alex Leatherwood for example.
Leatherwood is an extremely talented player and will likely start for the Raiders from day one but since he was taken at No. 17, there will be those who pick on the selection. That’s exactly what’s been going on for Ferrell who was taken fourth overall in 2019.
In two seasons, Ferrell has played in 26 games and started every one of them. He has 65 career tackles with 6.5 sacks and 11 tackles for a loss. Those numbers aren’t pretty but they don’t tell the entire story.
During his second season, Ferrell played much better overall. He showed progress as a pass-rusher, generating 21 pressures in 11 games after recording just 15 in 15 games during his rookie season. He also showed growth as a run defender as well.
Having said all that, he needs to do more than generate pressure if he wants the bust label to go away. Ferrell has to get home and as he enters his third season, he’s the best candidate for the Raiders to break out — and the addition of Yannick Ngakoue could help in that regard considering he’s going to draw a lot of attention to his side of the defensive line.