Meet Jason Ferris, the Panthers’ ranching linebacker who’s never been east of Milwaukee
In Montana Western’s history, only three football players had ever had a tryout in the NFL.
In April, Jason Ferris became the fourth when the Panthers signed him as an undrafted free agent. Now, in one of the strangest offseasons in NFL history, he is trying to become the first to play in an NFL regular-season game, a feat that will be even more difficult than usual for undrafted players.
Experiencing firsts will not be uncommon for the linebacker. The Montana native grew up in the city of Dillon and attended college in the town with a population just under 4,300. When he eventually is able to arrive in Charlotte, it will be Ferris’ first time in the city. It also just happens to be his first time east of Milwaukee.
“It’s definitely gonna be very new for me. I’ve been to a few big cities but not anything ... I guess Milwaukee is about as far east as I’ve gotten,” Ferris said. “So it’s gonna be quite, quite a change.”
Growing up, Ferris moved around often with his family as his father managed ranches, but even as his family started a fencing business as he grew older, he always remained around livestock. Ranches in Montana often produce a variety of crops, including wheat and barley, in addition to having grazing animals like cattle and sheep. Cattle alone outnumber the amount of people in the state.
After playing running back and linebacker in high school, he was hoping that a first would come in the opportunity to play football at a Division I school. When that didn’t happen, he considered not playing football in college at all.
Even when he elected to continue to play football, the NFL didn’t seem in his future. But his perspective changed during his junior year.
“About halfway through my junior year, (former NFL quarterback) Steve Bartkowski had moved up here to Montana and became a fan of the college that I played at, Montana West,” Ferris said. “He came up to me after one of the games and said if I wanted to pursue it, I had a good shot to continue playing. And that’s kind of when it became real for me.”
During his college career, Ferris, 23, was a two-time Frontier Conference Defensive Player of the Year and a two-time First-Team AP All-American. In his senior season, he led the conference with 119 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, seven passes defended, 3.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown and a blocked kick. He was a team captain in both his junior and senior years, while majoring in business and natural horsemanship, which involves learning how to train and care for horses and how to manage horse facilities.
There was no guarantee that the NFL would come calling. If making it to the next level of the sport didn’t work out, he was considering going into financial advising.
The restrictions related to COVID-19 only put smaller-school players in a more difficult position for getting opportunities. Ferris even recorded his Pro Day workouts and put them online.
Ferris sat and watched all three days of the 2020 NFL draft, but it wasn’t until 45 minutes after things concluded on Day 3 that he found out he would he headed to Charlotte.
Ending up with the Panthers wasn’t a complete surprise. In fact, it was something he had joked about months prior.
“(The Panthers) scout came (to Montana in the fall) and talked to me and he just acted like he wanted to be there and wanted to talk to me. The few other scouts that had came, kind of just weren’t as interested,” Ferris said. “It was funny, I was talking to my now-wife. I was like, ‘How do you feel about going to Carolina?’ That was last fall. And so it was a surprise, but it was funny because it was the first place that I kind of thought I might end up.”
On top of that, the player that Ferris has looked up to and modeled his play after is quite a coincidence as well.
“It’s kind of funny because, obviously, he’s still around and was at Carolina in front of me, but Luke Kuechly is that guy that I looked up to,” Ferris said. “I love how he carries himself, I love how he plays. I’ve always enjoyed watching him play.”
Now that he has signed with the Panthers, the next step will be the most difficult yet. Rookies are expected to report to training camp July 21 in Charlotte, but that date could change, and they’ll have less time on the field to impress coaches, including a reduction in preseason games from four to two. There’s also a potential for reduced roster sizes in training camp. One positive, however, could be a potential increase in practice squads to have greater roster flexibility.
Ferris picked up long snapping in college as Montana Western does not have one player on the roster designated to fill the position. In this unique offseason, versatility will be especially important as Panthers coach Matt Rhule discussed last week. Ferris’ special teams skills will play a large part in whether or not he is able to make the roster despite the limited opportunities available.
Until he gets that chance, not all of the firsts for Ferris have been put on hold. He got married last week — only a venue change was needed — and was able to celebrate with family and friends. For his shot on the field, however, the waiting period continues for now.
“I just want to come in and do whatever I can,” Ferris said. “Everybody talks about making it on special teams, so I definitely want to do that. It’s been a crazy offseason, I don’t know if it’s been a plus or a negative, but it’ll be nice once we get down there and all get together and can actually start working together.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 12:35 PM.
