Clelin Ferrell - Pro Football Rumors

49ers Activate S George Odum, Place DE Clelin Ferrell On IR

January 20th, 2024 at 5:51pm CST by Ely Allen

Shortly after losing starting safety Talanoa Hufanga for the year to a torn ACL, the 49ers were worried that they would be down another body in the secondary after George Odum suffered a biceps injury that the team feared could be season-ending. Luckily, they were wrong. San Francisco activated Odum off of injured reserve today, opening a roster spot for him by placing defensive end Clelin Ferrell on IR in his place.

Odum, a former undrafted free agent, signed a three-year contract with the 49ers after a breakout year that saw him start seven games for the Colts. Up until that breakout season, Odum had seen most of his use coming on special teams. The patient defender was given his opportunity to start thanks to multiple injuries to starters Khari Willis and Andrew Sendejo. He took advantage of that opportunity, finishing sixth on the team with 55 total tackles while recording an interception and two passes defensed. While Odum may not be a game changer on the 49ers defense, the depth he provides at safety will be a welcome one as San Francisco starts their 2023 playoffs.

Ferrell, a former top-four pick out of Clemson, has ultimately failed to live up to his draft stock over his five years in the league. After seeing his fifth-year option declined by the Raiders, Ferrell signed a one-year deal to come to San Francisco. Despite not meeting expectations in Las Vegas, Ferrell stepped in as a full-time starter for the 49ers this season. Ferrell hasn’t been very productive as a pass rusher (only 3.5 sacks), but he hasn’t needed to be as Nick Bosa (10.5), Javon Hargrave (7.0), and Arik Armstead (5.0) have fed off of their combined pass rushing effort. With Ferrell out with a knee injury, trade acquisition Chase Young, who has been coming off the bench since being acquired before Week 10, will once again step into a starting role.

In addition to the two IR transactions, the team also announced their standard gameday practice squad elevations for the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Defensive tackles Alex Barrett and T.Y. McGill will be called up to add some depth to the defensive line against the Packers tonight.

49ers Work Out CB Casey Hayward, Expect Arik Armstead Back For Playoffs

January 9th, 2024 at 6:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

Jason Verrett ran into yet another unfortunate setback last week, suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in practice. The 49ers are looking at adding another veteran cornerback as insurance.

Enter Casey Hayward, whom KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson notes worked out for the 49ers on Tuesday. Hayward, 34, has not played this season. But the 49ers, as their continued Verrett interest and past in-season additions show, place value on veteran corners in the event of injuries to regulars. They again want a veteran corner on their practice squad, per The Athletic’s Matt Barrows.

San Francisco brought in the likes of Jackrabbit Jenkins, Josh Norman, Dre Kirkpatrick and Darqueze Dennard from 2021-22; that group joined Verrett, whom the team continued to prioritize in recent offseasons despite his near-annual injury troubles. Hayward spent last season with the Falcons, but the team cut him early during the 2023 offseason.

The former Packers, Chargers and Raiders cover man played well in 2021, garnering a two-year, $11MM Atlanta agreement in March 2022. But he sustained a shoulder injury that limited him to six games last season. A 118-game starter who played on five straight Gus Bradley-run defenses from 2017-21, Hayward was medically cleared this summer. The 49ers are in fairly good shape at corner, with Charvarius Ward making the Pro Bowl and Deommodore Lenoir, Ambry Thomas and ex-Hayward Falcons teammate Isaiah Oliver in place as sidekicks.

More relevant to the No. 1-seeded team’s Super Bowl chase: Arik Armstead appears set to return from his latest injury trouble. The veteran defensive tackle has missed the past five games due to foot and knee injuries. Armstead will practice this week, and Kyle Shanahan said (via the San Francisco Chronicle’s Eric Branch) he could have played against the Rams — had the team needed to win its regular-season finale. A ninth-year 49er, Armstead has been pivotal to the team’s Nick Bosa-era D-lines. He is set to team with Bosa, Javon Hargrave and Chase Young upon returning for the divisional round.

The 49ers also designated safety George Odum for return from IR, ESPN.com’s Nick Wagoner tweets. Odum, used primarily on special teams during his San Francisco tenure, suffered a biceps injury on Thanksgiving. While that malady was expected to sideline the former All-Pro for the season’s remainder, Odum will be in play to return for the 49ers’ divisional-round game.

The news on safety Tayler Hawkins and defensive end Clelin Ferrell is not as good. Ferrell is likely to miss a few weeks due to a knee injury, Shanahan said. The seventh-year HC did stop short of saying this is a season-ending setback, however. Despite the arrivals of Young and Randy Gregory, Ferrell — who had drifted to healthy-scratch status at points with the Raiders — has started all 17 games this season. Hawkins, a rookie UDFA who made his NFL debut in Sunday’s nonessential Rams tilt, suffered a season-ending wrist injury, the San Jose Mercury News’ Cam Inman notes.

Shanahan added Drake Jackson, who has been on IR since November with a knee injury, is not healthy enough to practice. In the event Odum comes back and Jackson is healthy enough to return, the 49ers are in good shape for injury activations. After using all eight of their IR-return moves during the regular season last year, they have five activations left.

Latest On 49ers, DE Nick Bosa

September 6th, 2023 at 8:43am CST by Sam Robinson

Chris Jones and Zack Martin‘s holdouts qualified as more contentious than Nick Bosa‘s, but like the Chiefs interior defensive line standout, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year is close to missing regular-season time.

Bosa still has a few more days to sign an extension and end his holdout, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes the 49ers have moved past one hurdle as they attempt to finalize this deal. As expected, Bosa will soon become the NFL’s highest-paid edge defender. The 49ers have offered Bosa at least $30MM per year, as we heard late last week. T.J. Watt‘s $28MM-AAV deal has paced the edge rusher market since September 2021.

The issue of Bosa passing Aaron Donald‘s defender-record deal, which averages $31.7MM per year, still looms. More specifically, the topic of the $5MM roster bonus the Rams gave Donald as part of his guarantee package is part of the Bosa-49ers equation, Rapoport adds. This would seem a small barrier to negotiate, but the parties are running short on time to have Bosa in uniform for the San Francisco-Pittsburgh opener.

If Bosa is not uniform for the 49ers against the Steelers, they are prepared to start free agency pickup Clelin Ferrell and 2022 second-rounder Drake Jackson, The Athletic’s Matt Barrows tweets. This would mark a dramatic change for Ferrell, a bust with the Raiders after being the No. 4 overall pick in 2019. The 49ers have done well to coax quality play from discarded veteran D-linemen in recent years, and it will be interesting to see what D-line coach Kris Kocurek generates from Ferrell, a healthy scratch at points last year in Las Vegas. Ferrell signed a one-year, $2.5MM deal in March.

Bosa’s presence has helped the revolving cast of veteran defensive ends operate, however, and the 49ers have let this matter run up against the regular season. They are still expected to waive Bosa fines for skipping training camp, which the CBA permits for holdouts on rookie contracts, separating this from the Chiefs-Jones impasse. The 49ers have budgeted for a Bosa extension for years, but this journey’s completion is proving difficult.

The guarantees on Bosa’s contract will most likely dwarf Donald’s, as those were part of a three-year deal. The Steelers gave Watt a defender-most $80MM guaranteed at signing; Joey Bosa received $78MM locked in from the Chargers back in 2020. It will be interesting to see if Nick Bosa ends up on a lengthy contract like Trent Williams, who signed a six-year deal in 2021, or a medium-term pact like Deebo Samuel (three years).

Donald staged a holdout ahead of his fourth season and missed the first two games of the Rams’ 2017 season. The circumstances behind that differed, though the Rams did waive Donald’s fines and paid him for Week 1. That holdout came in Sean McVay‘s first season, when little was expected of a retooling Rams team. The 49ers are again a Super Bowl contender, a status Bosa helped restore after he missed most of a down 2020 season with an ACL tear. Not having the 25-year-old standout in a road game against the Steelers may well impact the NFC’s home-field advantage chase four months from now.

49ers, DE Clelin Ferrell Agree To Deal

March 15th, 2023 at 2:05pm CST by Adam La Rose

Clelin Ferrell‘s time with the Raiders did not go according to plan, but he will now have an opportunity to rebuild some of his value in a new home. The defensive end is signing a one-year deal with the 49ers, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (Twitter link).

The Raiders raised eyebrows when they drafted Ferrell fourth overall in 2019. That decision upped expectations for the Clemson product, who profiled as a solid contributor at the NFL level, but not the focal point of a team’s edge rush group. He operated as a full-time starter for the first two years of his career, but totaled just 6.5 sacks across that span.

A dramatic drop in playing time followed, as fellow 2019 draftee Maxx Crosby established himself as the team’s top performer in the pass rush department. Ferrell saw his snap share fall to 24% that year, leaving his future with the team very much in doubt. He, like the Raiders’ other first-rounders from the 2019 class, had his fifth-year option declined in a move which came as little surprise.

The 25-year-old’s roster spot was thought to be in jeopardy during training camp, given the arrival of a new coaching and defensive staff, along with his struggles early in his career. He did manage to remain on the 53-man roster, though his name was included in trade talk in the build-up to this year’s deadline. In 2022, Ferrell played in a rotational role, recording a pair of sacks and drawing a middling review in terms of PFF grade.

In San Francisco, he will have the chance to play alongside a number of highly-regarded d-linemen. The 49ers have already added Javon Hargrave to their defensive interior, and have Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead available as productive veterans up front. The team is set to lose Charles Omenihu to the Chiefs, so Ferrell could step into his place as a young option aiming to serve in a rotational capacity and play his way into a more substantial deal next year.

Raiders Not Considering Defensive Changes

November 18th, 2022 at 4:02pm CST by Adam La Rose

Part of the Raiders’ struggles this season has been an underwhelming performance by the team’s defense. Aside from a notable coaching decision made last week, though, no major changes with respect to players or coaches will be coming any time soon.

Las Vegas ranks 28th in the league in both total and scoring defense, despite a number of moves made in the offseason which led to heightened expectations the unit could at least effectively complement the Raiders’ talented array of skill-position players. That included bringing in Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator after he spent the past two seasons in the same capacity with the Giants.

One element of the team’s lackluster performance to date has been its pass rush. Despite having a starting edge tandem of Maxx Crosby and Chandler Jones, the Raiders have registered a league-worst 10 sacks this season. The latter has accounted for just 0.5 of that total, a figure which marks a major disappointment relative to the $52.5MM deal he signed this offseason. Significant alterations to the rotation, or along the sidelines, are not being considered for the remainder of the season, however.

“What’s the alternative?” head coach Josh McDaniels said, via Tashan Reed of The Athletic (subscription required). “I think that’s our job to look at that and consider it that way, but I also think throwing things out there just because you’re frustrated with the results doesn’t necessarily mean that the results are going to change for the better at all. Matter of fact, they could get dramatically worse.”

Eyebrows were raised this past Sunday when three notable defenders were deactivated. Defensive linemen Clelin Ferrell, Matthew Butler and Neil Farrell were each healthy scratches for the team’s 25-20 loss to the Colts. Reed tweets that the decision was made as a result of an unspecified non-football matter.

Amidst the Raiders’ 2-7 campaign, questions have been raised about the commitment level of certain players, a list which may include Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller. McDaniels’ job security has also been a talking point in recent weeks, though owner Mark Davis emphatically put an end to speculation about a change being made in that regard in at least the intermediate future. The same will apparently hold true both on the field and the sidelines for the team’s defense.

Raiders Shopping DL Clelin Ferrell, S Johnathan Abram

October 19th, 2022 at 6:27pm CST by Ben Levine

With a new regime in place, the Raiders could be looking to move on from a pair of 2019 first-round picks. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Raiders have talked with teams about trading defensive lineman Clelin Ferrell and safety Johnathan Abram.

Since Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels were brought on board, the Raiders have been busy reworking their roster. As one NFC executive told Fowler, the organization is valuing players “who fit their personality,” and it’s not overly surprising that they’d be looking to move from a pair of players who were drafted by the former front office.

Abram’s name has been “circulating a lot,” per Fowler. The safety missed the majority of his rookie campaign with a torn rotator cuff and labrum, but he’s otherwise been a reliable defender for the Raiders. He finished with 116 tackles in 2021, with Pro Football Focus grading him as an above-average linebacker (especially when it came to pass rush). However, the Ziegler/McDaniels combo had little time to evaluate Abram before having to decide on his fifth-year option, which they ultimately declined. The 25-year-old is still seeing a significant role in 2022; he’s started all five games while collecting 32 tackles. However, after appearing in almost all of the team’s defensive snaps through the first four games, he was limited to only 75 percent of the Raiders defensive snaps in Week 5.

Similar to Abram, Ferrell also didn’t have his fifth-year option picked up by the new front office. The fourth-overall pick in 2019, the defensive lineman has disappointed during his time with the organization. He started all 26 of his appearances through his first two seasons in the NFL, compiling 6.5 sacks. He didn’t start any games in 2021, and while he’s seen time in all five games in 2022, he’s still appearing in less than half of his team’s defensive snaps.

Meanwhile, Fowler notes that the Raiders could be a match in a trade with New England if the Patriots decide to move on from wide receivers. Ziegler has already pulled off a handful of trades with his former organization, and he played a role in the Patriots adding their current crop of wideouts. Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor are among the names that have been mentioned as traded candidates, per Fowler.

Latest On Raiders DL Clelin Ferrell

July 7th, 2022 at 10:27am CST by Adam La Rose

With training camp approaching, attention is being turned to each team’s top positional battles and some of the players most in danger of not making final roster cuts. While it is inevitable that a number of players, including notable names, suffer that fate in the build-up to the season, it is another matter when it happens to former top-five picks.

Clelin Ferrell “might be on high alert” regarding his roster status, per ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez. The 2019 No. 4 overall pick has proven doubts over his draft stock to be well-founded. After a 4.5 sack rookie season, Ferrell has seen his playing time drop over the past two years. He didn’t register a start in 2021, playing only 24% of defensive snaps. The presence of not only classmate Maxx Crosby, but also Yannick Ngakoue, relegated him to a backup role.

Ngakoue has seen been replaced by Chandler Jones, so Ferrell is likely to once again be shut out of a starting spot on the edge. As a result, it will be interesting to see how far new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham takes the experiment of using Ferrell at defensive tackle throughout the remainder of the offseason. Significant playing time along the interior of the team’s d-line could help extend his career in Las Vegas, or generate a market for him elsewhere.

Just like fellow 2019 first-rounders Josh Jacobs and Johnathan Abram, Ferrell had his fifth-year option declined this offseason. That leaves him need of a much more productive season in 2022 than the three he has put together to date, as he moves towards free agency for the first time in his career. Before looking that far ahead, however, he needs to ensure he will have a roster spot come the fall – something which is in doubt to a far greater degree than many would have expected when he entered the league.

Raiders’ Clelin Ferrell Getting Reps At DT

June 12th, 2022 at 1:50pm CST by Rory Parks

Clelin Ferrell, the No. 4 overall selection of the 2019 draft, was the first draft choice made by then-Raiders GM Mike Mayock. The pick was widely panned at the time, and it did not get better with age, as Ferrell has failed to make much of an impact in his first three years in the Silver-and-Black.

Mayock was fired in January, and the club’s new regime, fronted by GM Dave Ziegler and HC Josh McDaniels, declined Ferrell’s fifth-year option in May (they also declined the options for the Raiders’ other two first-round picks in 2019, Josh Jacobs and Johnathan Abram). As such, 2022 will be a platform year for Ferrell, who will earn $4.77MM this season.

As Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes, Ferrell was seeing significant time at defensive tackle during last week’s minicamp. That would constitute a noteworthy position change for a player who established himself as a defensive end during his college career. Upon his arrival in the NFL, preference was quickly given at that spot to fourth-rounder Maxx Crosby, though, who has emerged as a franchise cornerstone and been signed to a sizeable extension.

The presence of Crosby and other edge rushers – including Yannick Ngakoue in 2021 – has led to serious drops in Ferrell’s playing time; his path to an increase in snaps would be further blocked by Chandler Jones this year. That makes a position switch a logical experiment at this point in the offseason. The Raiders have seen several changes along the interior of their defensive line, and brought in Tyler Lancaster, Vernon Butler, Bilal Nichols, Andrew Billings and Kyle Peko in free agency, while also using Day 3 picks on Neil Farrell Jr. and Matthew Butler in the draft.

At six-foot-four, 265 pounds, Ferrell could have the frame to operate on the inside this season. Given how his career has panned out so far, and the team’s resulting actions, his performance – regardless of where he lines up – will go a long way to determining his future.

Adam La Rose contributed to this post.

2023 NFL Fifth-Year Option Results

May 3rd, 2022 at 9:17am CST by Zachary Links

Monday marked the deadline for NFL clubs to officially pick up their options on 2019 first-rounders. Fifth-year option seasons are no longer just guaranteed for injury — they’re now fully guaranteed, which makes these decisions a little tougher for teams.

Nineteen players had their options exercised, a tick up from 14 last year. Here’s the full rundown:

1. QB Kyler Murray, Cardinals – Exercised ($29.7MM)
2. DE Nick Bosa, 49ers: Exercised ($17.9MM)
3. DE Quinnen Williams, Jets: Exercised ($11.5MM)
4. DE Clelin Ferrell, Raiders: Declined ($11.5MM)
5. LB Devin White, Buccaneers: Exercised ($11.7MM)
6. QB Daniel Jones, Giants: Declined ($22.4MM)
7. DE Josh Allen, Jaguars: Exercised ($11.5MM)
8. TE T.J. Hockenson, Lions: Exercised ($9.4MM)
9. DT Ed Oliver, Bills: Exercised ($10.8MM)
10. LB Devin Bush, Steelers: Declined ($10.9MM)
11. OT Jonah Williams, Bengals: Exercised ($12.6MM)
12. LB Rashan Gary, Packers: Exercised ($10.9MM)
13. DT Christian Wilkins, Dolphins: Exercised ($10.8MM)
14. G Chris Lindstrom, Falcons: Exercised ($13.2MM)
15. QB Dwayne Haskins:
16. DE Brian Burns, Panthers: Exercised ($16MM)
17. DT Dexter Lawrence, Giants: Exercised ($10.8MM)
18. C Garrett Bradbury, Vikings: Declined ($13.2MM)
19. DT Jeffery Simmons, Titans: Exercised ($10.8MM)
20. TE Noah Fant, Seahawks: Exercised ($6.9MM; originally drafted by Broncos)
21. S Darnell Savage, Packers: Exercised ($7.9MM)
22. OT Andre Dillard, Eagles: Declined ($12.6MM)
23. OT Tytus Howard, Texans: Exercised ($13.2MM)
24. RB Josh Jacobs, Raiders: Declined ($8MM)
25. WR Marquise Brown, Cardinals: ($13.4MM; originally drafted by Ravens)
26. DE Montez Sweat, Commanders: Exercised ($11.5MM)
27. S Johnathan Abram, Raiders: Declined ($7.9MM)
28. DE Jerry Tillery, Chargers: Declined ($11.5MM)
29. DE L.J. Collier, Seahawks: Declined ($11.5MM)
30. CB Deandre Baker — N/A (released by Giants)
31. OT Kaleb McGary, Falcons: Declined ($13.2MM)
32. WR N’Keal Harry, Patriots: Declined ($12.4MM)

Raiders Decline Fifth-Year Options On Josh Jacobs, Johnathan Abram, Clelin Ferrell

April 29th, 2022 at 1:32pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Raiders trading previous cornerstones Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper gave them a prime opportunity in the 2019 draft. Three years later, each of the first-round picks from that draft will enter a contract year.

New Raiders GM Dave Ziegler confirmed Friday the team is declining the fifth-year options on Josh Jacobs, Johnathan Abram and Clelin Ferrell. All are on track for free agency in 2023. Although the Raiders’ Jon Gruden–Mike Mayock regime hit on Day 3 picks Maxx Crosby and Hunter Renfrow, their 2019 offseason — which featured misses on Antonio Brown, Trent Brown, Lamarcus Joyner and Tyrell Williams — contributed to the franchise’s change of direction.

Mack’s departure did the most to hurt the 2018 squad, which finished with a staggering 13 sacks. That led to the Raiders’ own 2019 first-rounder coming in at No. 4 overall. Ferrell, viewed as a reach at 4 when taken, has not panned out. The Clemson product has eight sacks in three seasons, and one-and-done defensive coordinator Gus Bradley slashed the defensive end’s snap rate to 24% in 2021.

Jacobs, the pick obtained via the Mack trade, has been by far the best of the three 2019 first-rounders. The Alabama alum was eligible for the Tier 2 option price ($8MM) because of his 2020 Pro Bowl nod. Although Jacobs’ passing-game usage spiked in 2021 (54 receptions), Ziegler and Josh McDaniels put the three-year starter on track for free agency. Jacobs averaged 4.8 yards per carry in 2019 and finished second to Kyler Murray for Offensive Rookie of the Year, but he finished that season and the 2020 campaign on IR. Jacobs, however, finished strong in 2021 and was instrumental in Las Vegas qualifying for the playoffs.

Chosen 27th overall (the Cooper slot), Abram missed almost all of his rookie season because of a Week 1 injury. He still started 27 games from 2020-21 and made 116 tackles last season. A late-December labrum tear ended Abram’s 2021 season, however. Patrick Graham will be his third DC in three years.