NFL Draft Prospects 2019: Edge Rusher - Jaylon Ferguson, Louisiana Tech

Despite being an all-state selection in Louisiana, Jaylon Ferguson stayed in his home state to join the Bulldogs. He was an honorable mention All-Conference USA as a true freshman with six sacks and 15 tackles for loss in just five games before entering the starting lineup the following year. These last three seasons he has put up a ridiculous 52.5 TFLs and 39 sacks, including a nation-leading 17.5 QB take-downs last season. That did not only earn him consecutive first-team all-conference accolades, but he also set a new FBS record with 45 career sacks.

Ferguson has prototype edge size at 6’4” ½ with an 81-inch wingspan. He has the hand strength to disengage by pulling down tight-ends and offensive linemen at the point of attack in the ground game. He was asked to pinch inside quite a bit, which was a big weapon at the goal-line. When the ball comes loose, this kid really attacks it.

If there is one thing that made me go “oh my god” when I watched his tape, it’s Ferguson’s ability to just be like lightning when he goes from stacking up his blocker to realizing it was play-action and it is time to hunt the QB. There was one play in particular early on against LSU, which I had to rewind several times to see how exactly he just left his blocker standing and got a hit on Joe Burrow in less than a second after that. My favorite game to watch of Ferguson came against Mississippi State last year, when he ‘only’ had one sack, but absolutely played with his hair on fire.

College football’s all-time sack leader has a good first step and provides speed around the edge. Ferguson displays outstanding flexibility in his hips, which enables him to dip his shoulder and run the arc at an angle, as well as flattening or even pivoting around to finish on plays. He can flip his hips as well as anybody in this draft class and has the length to grab underneath the pads of the offensive tackle while countering back inside to open up a different path.

When he comes in from behind on the quarterback he has that outside-arm ready to tomahawk down at the ball. Ferguson is pro-active with his hands at first in the passing game and packs a lot of power on that initial punch. The former Bulldog has a very innate ability to use his inside-arm to rip through the grasp of an offensive lineman or use it as an armbar to push off on that guy as well as avoiding contact.

What he does best is using the momentum of a blocker against him. He has switched sides and been productive from either one as a pass rusher, while also standing up as a linebacker and moving around the formation for L.A. Tech. With the way he jumps off the ball and gets an angle on his rush immediately, he is in the eyesight of quarterbacks quickly and flushes them the other way.

While the numbers are definitely there, I thought there were some matchups Ferguson should have dominated on a more consistent snap-to-snap basis. He needs to play with more extension as a run-defender and also allows opponents to get their hands into his chest quite a bit in protection when there is no obvious passing situation. He has to do a better job finishing his rush when the offensive tackle is in catch-up mode and slightly guides him past the quarterback, as he needs to land a final club or rip to get loose.

I also think Ferguson gets caught up too much with what happens in the backfield and what the quarterback is looking at, which leads to him stopping his feet at times. I would like to see him chase harder when the ball-carrier decides to cut it back or runs the other way in general. Ferguson was pretty much invisible the first two days of Senior Bowl practice, before he finally got a sack in the actual game, followed up by another QB hit staying home against the bootleg, but he was largely responsible for the game-clinching touchdown run, as he didn’t keep contain.

Overall, Ferguson’s crazy sack and TFL numbers display the kind of talent he brings to the table. However, he sometimes needs to save himself on some plays where he doesn’t go into all-out chase mode and then all of a sudden he puts together a dominant stretch of sequences where it is almost surprising opponents, which leads to multiple splash-plays.

I don’t know if he will simply have to focus more on conditioning to bring it every snap or if that is a question about his motor, but every time he wants to, that guy seems to wreak havoc. Those few technical details I talked about are definitely correctable and you can’t teach his sudden explosiveness.

Grade: Mid-second