Day: August 6, 2007

Oakland is having a mess of a time signing first overall pick JaMarcus Russell according to Yahoo! Sports.

“This could go to September, easily, with the way the Raiders have approached it,” a source said. “Their approach has been from the start of this that it’s their way or the highway. They were told before the (NFL) draft that if that’s how they wanted to do it, they shouldn’t draft (Russell) … Look, this could be done in two days if they’d just realize it’s not going to happen the way they think.”

So, they were told that signing Russell was going to be a problem under their, “My way or the highway” approach, and they selected him anyway. Excellent job again Raider Nation, maybe this is why your storied franchise is falling apart at the seams.

I’m definitely one who believes these draft picks sign for way too much money and the finical pool for rookies should be restructured, but if Oakland knew it would have trouble signing this kid under its terms, it should have rethought drafting him. Not that Calvin Johnson was going to be a peach to sign either, but come on, this is supposed to be an exciting time for your franchise and instead it’s turning into a headache. This kid should be in camp learning from (gulp!) Daunte Culpepper and Josh McCown and instead he’s at home probably getting bigger than he already is…which is hard to do.

The Packers restructured receiver Donald Driver’s contract, which includs a $11 million raise. He’ll now make roughly $5.75 million per season and won’t be a free agent until 2010.

I’ve long thought that Driver is one of the most underrated receivers in the NFL, one of the few that does his job, doesn’t complain and certainly isn’t afraid to sacrifice his body to make the tough catch. He is 32 and has some injury concerns, but it’s nice to see Green Bay take care of a player who has worked hard for them over the years.