Is JaMarcus Russell now the biggest bust in draft history?

You can if they get released three years after being handed $31.5 million in guaranteed money.

It's one thing when a guy just isn't good enough. It's another when he eats his way out of the league.

 

Very true and this is often overlooked. Mandarich is a legandary bust in part because SI annointed him the best line prospect ever and because the first round of that draft was just littered with future Hall of Famers. Aikman, Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas, Deion Sanders...

Mandarich did have a respectable career.

 

I was at the combine in 2007 and I remember a scout telling me, "I know Russell is going No. 1, but I'm glad we're not drafting there, because I have a bad feeling about the guy."

 

I suspect you wouldn't be asking this question if he had screwed over a team you support the same way he has screwed the Raiders.

Why?

Because he's a lazy piece of garbage who stole money from the Oakland Raiders.

Why?

Because he doesn't care about anyone other than himself, and never was willing to lift a finger to get better. He got his money, and that was that.

Absolutely, I hope he ends up squandering every bit of good fortune his million-dollar arm got him, because his five-cent head, two-bit heart, and $10 buffet body all helped make him a complete embarrassment.

Screw him.

 

There are busts all the time who simply aren't as talented as everyone thought. I actually feel sorry for some of those guys.

I don't feel sorry for Russell. He's a fat, lazy piece of garbage.

 

One small point in Russell's defense: He walked into a situation that was so fucked up that nobody could have succeeded, at least not a quarterback. Lane Kiffin didn't want him, and he and Al were in full-blown feud before JaMarcus ever got there. The Raiders didn't have anyone in the building who even knew how to negotiate a contract -- you might think that's an exaggeration, but go back and look it up and that's what agents all over the league were saying about them -- so a deal that could have been done by training camp didn't get done until the season started. Season gone already, then.

So JaMarcus shut it down, just like McFadden has shut it down for his first two seasons realizing the futility of risking the rest of his career for a franchise that's more interested in defending the old man's place in history than it is in winning. DeAngelo Hall, Javon Walker, Gibril Wilson, Tommy Kelly -- they all took the money and mailed it in too. Was that guiding the behavior of an impressionable young superstar?

Now, all that said, JaMarcus sure did take the lazy way out, and he should have some personal pride. But there is a speck of a hope that he'll get into a professional working environment and become something.

 

Yes, there is a culture of losing around the Raiders that they can't shake. It's been there for nearly a decade.

That doesn't excuse any of the individuals who have stolen money from the organization in that time. Some have shown up, worked, then realized it was all for naught, and looked for a way out. JaMarcus Russell didn't even try.

Kawakami again:

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2010/04/27/jamarcus-russell-and-the-raiders-failed-each-other-but-he-got-the-40m/

 

Longtime,

Good points, but one of the few teams that historically have taken cases such as Russell, just dropped him.

I really like the idea of him switching positions. It has happened in the NFL none to recent past. I remember Roy Green being a DB before becoming a receiver with the Cards in the mid-1980s. Aundray Bruce was a No. 1 who failed at LB, and then played awhile at TE.

Charley Taylor and Bobby Mitchell split some time between receiver and running back.

 

It is amazing that the Raiders are only eight years removed from a Super Bowl appearance.

The franchise is a mess, but if Russell was worth half a shit he'd have tried to do something to change that, other than becoming the fattest QB in NFL history.

 

Outing alert: Piotr dresses in Raider black every Sunday and you can see him in the end zone among the Raider Nation.

I have a hard time not calling Ryan Leaf a big bust. This is a good thread. JaMarcus gets high honors, but Leaf... Akili Smith... Tim Couch... God, that 1999 draft (I know Leaf was 1998) was terrible for some QB's.

 

where would he play? Someone mentioned Offensive line. I really don't think he has fast enough feet to play guard with all the pulling, trapping and sealing they have to do. Can't play left tackle, so that leaves right tackle. TE? Probably safety, but I don't know how willing he would be to come up and hit somebody. LB might work, but again he could be hurt by a lack of speed and footwork.

Wasn't Tony Mandarich picked ahead of Barry Sanders? FAIL. At least that led to a regime change and management brought in Ron Wolf, Brett Favre and a Super Bowl.

 

Harrington isn't remotely in that class.