I started watching his games. At first, I didn't love him. He doesn't explode off the screen or anything. The more I watched though, the more I liked him.
He's a very, very smart player. He does a great job setting the edge, forcing runners inside, and he does it without getting tied up. Once the runner commits back inside, McClellin has a way about his game where the blocker just can't get their hands on him and McClellin turns it inside to make big play after big play in the run game. As a pass rusher, he's more clever than purely dominant, but boy oh boy is he clever. On 3rd down, the guys blocking him look lost. He gets the blocking scheme to commit, then pulls some kind of trick on them. His stunts and delays are a thing of beauty.
I'm a big fan of how well he stays home, yet how well he makes plays while doing it.
I put McClellin over Upshaw because he's a far more natural player. He hides his intentions really well, plays within the defense really well, handles blockers really well, takes great angles. . . . He'd be a beautiful fit in our defense. He's the type of player who can confuse the shit out of the opposition. He'll be a real reliable 1st and 2nd down player and a friggin nightmare on 3rd down. Blockers are just lost with this guy.
He'll get engulfed at times by stud NFL OT's, all OLBs do, but he can hunker down and whether or not he can beat that blocker to make that many big plays in the run game, he always has his edge locked down before he does anything else and he'll funnel it inside.
Put me in the McClellin camp. He's sneaky good. Jennings had that sneaky good way about him. I think McClellin does too. Some guys just know what they're doing and how to hide what they're doing from the guy across from them.
He looks a lot like a Patriot type of defender to me. He'd look great in Green and Yellow too.
Fuckin stud. That's my opinion.
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