Arguably the best team in the NFL to churn out impact defensive linemen are the San Francisco 49ers.
Much of that has to do with the magic work of defensive line coach Kris Kocurek. He is easily one of the best, if not the best position coaches the 49ers have. Over the years, the 49ers have managed to develop linemen into stud players, but really what has been most impressive from them is their ability to turn failed players from other teams into successful reclamation projects.
The most notable ones have been Arden Key, Charles Omenihu, and Samson Ebukam. All three players came to the 49ers with an underwhelming resume, then ended up ascending into fairly high-level impact players. The 49ers are hoping they can do the same for former Raiders first-round pick Clelin Ferrell. He's had an extremely underwhelming career thus far for a first-round pick, but much of that could be because he was with the Raiders.
With Key, Omenihu, and Ebukam elsewhere, Ferrell is a player whom they are banking on to bridge the gap of the losses of one of those three. So, will Ferrell be another 49ers successful reclamation project?
Tip of the cap to the 49ers for being able to get so many defensive linemen to reach their potential, but Ferrell will not be one of them. Improving Ferrell and making him into a contributor is one thing, but he will not come close to the level of efficiency as Key and Omenihu had during their 49ers tenure. The issue with Ferrell is his abilities as a pass rusher are average at best, and that is due to his stiffness. The guy doesn't have adequate bend with his pass rush.
Not to mention he really doesn't have a bullrush or any adept aggression to get to the quarterback. I'm sure Ferrell will look better with the 49ers given the talent around him and having one of the best position coaches in the league. It's not like he's had anything remotely close while being with the lowly Raiders. But if he were to have any semblance of talent as a pass rusher, then he would've at least shown more of it despite being in a poor situation. You would think that he could flash on a pretty porous defense, yet he never did.
I think getting Ferrell to be a sweet role player is farfetched given his physical limitations. His best ability is defending the run, so he would teeter more as an Ebukam replacement than anything else. Besides, if he were to see a good deal of pass rushing snaps, then that would mean Drake Jackson is failing to meet expectations.
Many defensive linemen have turned out to be solid players for the 49ers and have increased their value thanks to it. But Ferrell is more or less just going to be your run-of-the-mill rotational contributor.
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