Atlanta Falcons Potential First Round Pick: Clelin Ferrell

Weaknesses

One concern with Clelin Ferrell’s game, is that he isn’t going to win against NFL offensive tackles using speed. He is not slow, as he’s projected by walterfootball.com to run a 4.77 40 yard dash time, yet he’s not blazingly fast either. Ferrell has a good first step but that burst doesn’t continue in the steps there after, often giving tackles a chance to regroup.

Clelin Ferrell also doesn’t have great bend when coming off the edge. He plays with good pad level, but he just isn’t the most flexible edge rusher. Ferrell also doesn’t have great agility when dropping back in coverage, or defending running backs in the flats. Tackling agile players in space could also be a problem for Clelin. He is certainly a guy that a team would want attacking the line of scrimmage, for a large majority of the snaps that he plays.

Another concern is the fact Clelin Ferrell tore his ACL in high school in 2014. He has seemingly bounced back nicely, but often surgeries that athletes have in high school, aren’t done by surgeons with the same level of expertise as doctors who operate on NFL and Power Five NCAA athletes. NFL team doctors will certainly want to examine the surgically repaired knee closely. The staff of the Draft Network put together a thorough scouting report on Clelin Ferrell that can be viewed by clicking this link.