SI on JaMarcus Russell

In the second paragraph they talk about how teams aren't excited about the draft, but that some teams are perhaps "Fanning for Manning" for the 1998 draft.

 

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Ms. Lippy! Did he write 3-4 haircuts per week?

3.5 haircuts x $10 = $35 per week + tip (let's say $5 total). That's $40 a week x 52 weeks - that's $2,080 a year on haircuts. And that was lowballing.

If he actually goes 4 times a week, and pays a more reasonable amount like $15 for a haircut and tip we're talking $3,100 a year on haircuts!

 

He didn't steal the money. Al Davis fucked up.

 

I feel like JaMarcus Russell gets his haircuts for free. Or, at least, he used to back when he had money.

 

Fucking perfect. I hope someone on this board met and married you, cause you're a keeper.

Seriously, 31 other teams probably realized Russell was a bad investment. He ended up with the one guy too senile to know any better. Good for Russell. He clearly has a ton of faults, but he seems smart enough to know that he's got to live comfortably on the money he's already made for the rest of his life. With no kids and no ex-wives to feed at age 26, he's way ahead of the game (hello, Travis Henry). I'm with Old Tony: If he comes back, I'll root for him. But I wouldn't expect that to happen.

 

Except Browns GM Phil Savage all but said he would've taken him first.

 

That was an awful quarterback draft. Just awful. And the Raiders needed a quarterback. I guess they could have picked Calvin Johnson, but who would have thrown to him? Best option would have been to trade down, probably.

 

Still doesn't change the fact that Al Davis fucked up and JaMarcus didn't steal.

 

The smart move that year was taking Thomas. I don't know anyone who thought it was even a possibility that he busted. Problem was, taking Thomas was an admission of failure on Robert Gallery, which I'm sure Al wasn't willing to admit at the time. Plus, you can't have that much money wrapped up in your two tackles.

 

Not denying he fucked up. But it's not like Al took Tim Tebow with the first pick. Other people were as enamored with Russell as Al was.

There are dumb moves that aren't defensible (taking Heyward-Bay or Michael Mitchell) and there are moves that are dumb but defensible (Russell).

 

What if they took Brady Quinn? Bad quarterback, but no Drank drama? Wonder if we think of the selection the same way we do now with Russell.

 

You know better than that.