I was one of the biggest supporters of the Oakland Raiders drafting Clelin Ferrell at number four. I first floated the idea months before the NFL Draft and once the Raiders surprised everyone with the pick, I defended it. In fact, I spent much of the offseason defending the pick.

And now that we are almost half way through the 2019 NFL season, I’ve admitted to the fact that I need to eat some crow on Ferrell.

When I mentioned this on Twitter, I received a number of responses telling me not to jump the gun. Reminding me of Kolton Miller. Scoffing at the idea of pre-judging a player with less than one year under his belt.

So I clarified on the latest episode of BHB Unscripted that the crow I was eating had nothing to do with Ferrell’s entire career.

When you’re taken at number 4, there is an expectation that you will be a contributor, if not a difference maker, right away. When I hyped up the pick, it was because I believed Ferrell would live up to that.

And any reasonable person would agree that so far he hasn’t been more than average as a player.

That doesn’t mean he won’t. It doesn’t mean he shouldn’t get more time to develop. It isn’t writing him off as a player.

Because any reasonable person would agree that Ferrell deserves more time to develop.

And those two positions are not mutually exclusive. Ferrell hasn’t been good but there is still a possibility he will be.

Based on how it appears the Raiders would like to use Ferrell, another offseason in an NFL weight room would do him some good. One of the reasons Ferrell was coveted was his ability to play with power. Thus far, that power has not translated to the NFL.

The Raiders have played Ferrell inside a number of times on passing downs. And going from college level end to NFL level defensive tackle isn’t a great way to see his power translate to the next level.

But it’s also worth noting that when Ferrell has played on the edge, his power hasn’t shown up there either.

Ferrell has played decently well in the run game, but you don’t need a top five pick to get that.

And no, it’s not too early to talk about what Ferrell has done (or failed to do) so far this season. Because if you really believe that to be true, you shouldn’t be praising guys like Josh Jacobs or Maxx Crosby yet based on the same reasoning.

In order for Ferrell to impact the passing game in a way that would make him worthy of a high first round pick, it’s going to take some time. And while everyone should give him that time, doing so doesn’t require ignoring what is happening in the meantime.