Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Clelin Ferrell has made two starts in the team's last three games, including a season-high 49 snaps in Saturday's loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Ferrell will be called on to play an even bigger role in Sunday's matchup with the San Francisco 49ers as star edge rusher Chandler Jones will now miss the remainder of the season due to an elbow injury.
“The big thing about Cle for me, he's a big physical body," said Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham in his Tuesday press conference. "Play big and physical, do that. Usually when you put somebody in a category, you want him to do that. I mean, he's done that. He did a good job setting the edge. He had a few plays where he power rushed their tackle. He made a play in the passing game getting his hands up. Then we asked him to drop into coverage. The good thing about Cle is that he could wear multiple hats. And whenever you've got a guy like that on the edge, that helps you, because it helps you with disguise, it helps you with what you can do defensively. And then he's really taken hold of just studying and just understanding his role, whether it's in the pass rush, whether it's in the running game, the different positions he's playing. He's really doing a good job being studious and diligent working at it, and I couldn't be happier with that.
"And then we've got a big challenge this week because all those guys on the edge are going to get tested. One, you got to deal with Trent [Williams], who's the best in the league probably. I mean, he's a point of attack tackle. You've got all the formations and all the adjustments that Kyle's going to throw at you, which is always interesting. One thing he's going to do, he's going to run the ball. So, we've got a big challenge in front of us. Last week, we had a challenge with Pittsburgh and thankfully we did some good things in the run. We've got some stuff to clean up. But this week is going to be a big challenge. They've got big men blocking, they've got good backs running the ball. They present a lot of different challenges with the looks. So, it's going to be a challenge. You look forward to that. That's why we got into this profession."
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