Clelin Ferrell bulking up for second year

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Mar 19, 2019
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Raiders defensive end Clelin Ferrell is hoping to make a bigger impact this season.

That plan apparently begins with being bigger.

According to Vic Tafur of TheAthletic.com, Ferrell has added 13 pounds during an offseason regimen in Miami, getting up to 275 pounds.

“He’s lean and mean and running pretty good,” trainer Mark Hall. “We had a really good offseason and I know he can’t wait to get to Las Vegas and put that product on the field.”

Ferrell opted not to talk about the gains, but he’s clearly motivated after an underwhelming rookie year. The fourth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft had just 4.5 sacks.

He played at 262 pounds, and that was before an episode of food poisoning in London which caused him to lose 15 pounds. He said as he left for the offseason: “You probably won’t even recognize me. Seriously.”

Hall, a former player and coach at Grambling State, has known Ferrell since his sophomore year at Clemson, and works with a number of other NFL defensive linemen (including Arik Armstead and DeForest Buckner, among others).

So the work was tailored to have him more ready.

“Last year was more of an introduction to Cle,” Hall said. “Then last season, I noticed some deficiencies in Cle’s game and the Raiders played him inside some, too. So he needed to put on some more pounds, especially in his lower body, and we polished up his pass-rush game.

“We also wanted to give him a better understanding of what offensive linemen are presenting to him, and how to finish against them. Clean his game up, . . . speed, agility, movement.”

He’ll have a new line coach this year in Rod Marinelli, and if he can translate his weight gain into on-field performance, it would go a long way toward justifying a pick that was higher than many anticipated.
 
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