Well, finally.
Of the big sample size of plays one can get of Ferrell I´ll just use a few ones to highlight what (imo) stands up the most on his tapes.
First and foremost his size is perfect for a 5t, and everyone can see that. His arms length especially stands out and he uses it perfectly when he is there with the brain.
His uses them to maintain his frame clean, keep the distance and manage to shred off the T.
This works the best against smaller LTs and those with weaker/slower punches of course.
Here vs TA&M; very good
get off and uses his arms well to prevent the LT from getting into his chest.
See here against one of the very best Ts in the nation.
Here just to give a look at the arm extension
Good hands positioning and pursuit angle
Bench presses him, full
arm extension
He then shreds/rips, finishes the play
See here at NCst, here´s the one initiating contact, good
hands positioning. Has a strong enough
punch to eventually bull rush or push pull the opponent.
However, despite the inside leverage he rather goes for an outside rip.
Sadly he doesn´t possess the
speed, nor the
bend. See how, again, his
pads are too high. He ultimately doesn´t turn his hips to the QB and takes a too wide angle.
Here again, he starts well with his hands
Could easily pull him or counter/swim inside. But he often
lacks a real pass rushing plan and reacts too late, losing his balance as well
He does have the tools, especially in the run game, defending 2 gaps, to make his presence felt.
He also has a good
football QI. I´ve seen him reading well the options and dropping to the RB when smelling a screen is coming.
The stinky side of this all is his lack of speed, bend and astonishing inconsistency, all of which may dangerously hinder his ceiling.
The worst thing he does, and he does it way too frequently for a first rounder, is taking the
eyes off the play.
I´m just picking one of the many examples he provides us.
Sweep left, idk what he´s even looking at. LB (#6) will come out of nowhere to make a huge play in the backfield, but that´s a bad play from our guy.
Some minutes later, same thing: strong formation, TE lined up as a FB gets outside leverage on Ferrell, as he lowers his head and loses track on the ballcarrier.
I honestly can´t tell how much of this is dues to his lack of concentration and attention to technique or simple playcall (maybe he was just supposed to shoot the gap?), but in case the former is correct I´m confident he can get the issue fixed.
It stinks, but he has this Taco Charlton kind of frame and he should have a decent floor in the pros.
As a pass rusher he´s really not the most creative I´ve ever seen. He can´t rely on his rip in the pros because his pads level that is often too high and pro Tackles won´t be taken off balance by his first step. He sometimes shows a well timed spin move but will definitely have to develop some real counter moves or will end up being a too predictable and inefficient QB threat.
I don´t intend by any mean state this things as if they were a football Bible.. they´re just my take on a quite hyped 4-3 DE that I expected to be a little more complete.
I welcome any critics and very willing to reevaluate my takes if someone wants to share his different (and certainly more knowledgeable) point of view on this one.
Wish a nice weekend to ya´ll
