Oakland Raiders quarterbacks Bruce Gradkowski (L) and JaMarcus Russell are shown sitting on the bench against the New York Jets during their NFL football game in Oakland, California October 25, 2009. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES SPORT FOOTBALL)
You know things are bad when your life coach gives up on you. My life coach still won’t return my calls and to this day, getting to sleep at night doesn’t come without a great degree of difficulty.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Jason Cole, JaMarcus Russell’s “life coach” John Lucas has cut ties with the biggest bust in NFL history. Lucas was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1976 NBA draft and is renowned for helping athletes with addiction and personal problems. But apparently even he has thrown his hands up when it comes to Russell.
Russell, 25, and Lucas had been working together since September in hopes of getting Russell into shape for a return to the NFL. The aforementioned sources say Russell, released by the Oakland Raiders last May, initially worked hard, but quickly lost motivation. Recently Lucas tired of trying to get Russell, the top pick in 2007, to respond to instruction and assistance.
In addition to Lucas, TNT analyst and former NBA star Charles Barkley tried to motivate Russell, according to one of the sources. Both Barkley and Russell are from Alabama, prompting the Hall of Famer to take an interest in Russell.
“The title of your article should be, ‘It’s Over,’ ” the same source said. “It’s just amazing that you could say that about somebody who is 25 years old and just got drafted four years ago. But it’s been almost a year since he got cut and there’s no interest. Even before the lockout, nobody wanted to get near the kid.”
It’s funny, if this kid couldn’t throw the ball 70 yards nobody would give a damn about his career. It’s admirable that John Lucas devotes his time to helping athletes but as we all come to realize in life, some people just aren’t worth the trouble. I’m not trying to be cruel here. I just think that if people aren’t willing to help themselves and then they spit on the efforts of others who are trying to help them then why bother?
Did anybody stop to think whether or not Russell really wanted a life in the NFL? Just because he was blessed with a rocket launcher for an arm doesn’t mean he wanted to be a football player. We all shake our head and call him a waste of talent but it’s pretty clear that whatever is in guys like Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb, Drew Brees and Tom Brady, clearly isn’t in Russell. He just doesn’t want it, so let him go drink cough syrup or whatever he else he does in his free time and move on.
If Russell had a serious problem and was a danger to himself or others, I would be singing a different tune. But as far as I can tell, he’s just another lazy person who doesn’t want to work for anything. Sadly, he’s not the only one who is like this and he won’t be the last.
Listen, don’t talk to Al Davis about no Calvin Johnson. Because while drafting JaMarcus Russell may have been a mistake, it’s not like that lousy Megatron has helped the Lions win many games over the years.
Or so says Davis.
From Mlive.com:
Here’s what Davis said about Oakland’s recent draft success:
“I think we’ve been very successful the last four. I think we’re always pretty good. The thing that hurt, is the question someone asked, JaMarcus hurt a great deal. But the ones they wanted to take instead of JaMarcus, Brady Quinn, hasn’t played yet.
“There was some talk of Calvin Johnson. But you can take a look at Calvin up at Detroit. How many games did they win this year, Detroit, do you know? Six? Yeah. But up until now, Calvin hadn’t done anything for them. He had been eulogized, but he hadn’t made a lot of indelible impression on the won and lost. Listen, someone asked the question, it’s there. The JaMarcus thing hurt.”
Oh, brother. Only Al Davis could admit to a mistake but then try to rectify it by saying something stupid.
Hey, I blew it by drafting JaMarcus Russell but it’s not like anyone else that we wanted panned out – especially that Calvin Johnson kid. After all, football is a one-man sport and Johnson only helped the Lions win six games last year so it’s not like he would have helped. And don’t forget people, we drafted Darrius Heyward-Bey two drafts later so we got our own Calvin Johnson eventually.
Johnson has 4,191 yards and 33 touchdowns thus far in his promising career. Russell is out of the league already. Big difference.
The Washington Redskins’ quarterback situation has gone from interesting, to absurd, to ludicrous in the past 72 hours.
With just over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter against the Lions on Sunday, head coach Mike Shanahan benched Donovan McNabb in favor of Rex Grossman despite the Skins only being down one score. On Monday, Shanahan said that McNabb didn’t have enough “cardiovascular endurance” to run his two-minute offense, which is why he went with Grossman.
Today, Mark Berman of FOX 26 in Houston is reporting that the Redskins will work out free agent JaMarcus Russell, who has been working out in Texas in hopes of returning to the NFL. This is the same Russell who just had codeine possession charges dropped last week.
Now, Russell may be in the best shape of his life but he’s still JaMarcus Russell. He may have seen the error of his ways and has now committed himself to the game of football, but he’s still JaMarcus Russell.
I know the Skins haven’t officially signed him yet, but why? Why JaMarcus Russell?
Maybe I’m looking too much into this, but it’s clear that Shanahan’s confidence in McNabb is disintegrating. He said that McNabb is still his starter, but you don’t bench your starter with the game on the line in favor of Rex Grossman and then turn around and work out one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history during your bye week. Again, maybe I’m reading too much into the situation and there’s a possibility that McNabb’s health status is in question but how good is Donovan feeling about his current situation? He hasn’t fully picked up Shanahan’s offense yet, but it’s only been seven games.
Michael Wilbon wrote yesterday that this will be McNabb’s first and last year in D.C. Seeing as how Shanahan is about to bring JaMarcus Russell in for a work out, I’m not going to question Wilbon’s theory.
Former No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell recently appeared on Showtime’s Inside the NFL and admitted that he made some mistakes that led to the Raiders’ releasing him last May.
Of course, he doesn’t know what those mistakes were, but he’s taking full responsibility for them.
From USA Today:
“Now looking back on it, I could have went about certain things different,” Russell said.
What specifically did he do wrong?
“I am not sure,” Russell told Showtime interviewer Josina Anderson. “I don’t know where they went wrong. But the things that did go wrong I take full blame for whatever was my fault, and the things that did happen. Being drafted No. 1 there are so much that they want you to do at a snap of a finger. It didn’t happen that way which brings us to today.”
That doesn’t sound like a guy who knows he messed up and is now taking the appropriate steps to ensure he doesn’t make the same mistakes twice. This sounds like someone who is trying to tell everyone what he thinks they want to hear in order to get what he wants (i.e. another chance at the NFL). Just based on his statement above, it seems like Russell doesn’t have the faintest idea how he got to the position he is today.
Here’s the real kicker:
The former LSU product told Fox he knows “for a fact” that he will return to the NFL. “I can’t say when, but until it happens I am going to stay here in Houston and continue to work out each and every day no matter how long it takes,” he said.
Russell told Showtime he will not consider playing in the UFL and brushed off a question about whether he would consider playing a position other than QB.
“I am not going to speak on that,” he said. “I am a quarterback.”
He knows he screwed up and that teams want nothing to do with him because they know he’s a malcontent, yet he basically says he’s above playing for the UFL and switching positions.
My experience covering the NFL for two decades is that players use drugs or their facsimiles for the same reason non-athletes do: for some sort of relief.
Russell was a bust, a terrible bust, and totally unprepared for the rigors of NFL life, but he was still human. Russell likely heard what was said about him by media and fans (much of it deserved). His plunge into eternal bust-dom might’ve led to Russell easing the pain with this cheap drink while believing the chances of getting caught were small.
“The subjective effects [of using codeine] are quite hard to describe beyond the word euphoria,” writes the site Opioids.com. “The sedation associated with codeine is quite a lot less than that experienced with morphine or other stronger opiates. A strong feeling of contentment is usually also experienced. Most people enter a phase where you become quite content and tend to lose interest in their surroundings.”
Wouldn’t you want to lose interest in your surroundings if you played for the Raiders?
I couldn’t disagree more. I think Russell sipped on syrup because he’s a massive idiot and not because he sought some form of relief. Nobody should feel sorry for this clown, who made more money than most of us will make in a lifetime for doing nothing. He’s unmotivated, he’s lazy and he used his God-given talents to become rich. And while I’m the first to admit that I often refer to the Raiders’ organization as a “circus,” most fans would love the opportunity to play for a NFL franchise – any NFL franchise.
The flush you just heard was whatever was left of JaMarcus Russell’s NFL career swirling down the toilet.
According to the Mobile Press-Register, the massive bust was arrested on Monday afternoon for possession of a controlled substance, which was said to have been codeine syrup (i.e. Sizzurp).
(Spokeswoman Lori) Myles said Russell was arrested at his home early this afternoon during an undercover investigation. Police did not find a prescription for the codeine during their search, Myles said.
Other people were on the property, but Russell was the only one arrested, according to Myles.
He was booked into Mobile Metro Jail at 4:22 p.m. Russell was released minutes later after making $2,500 bail, according to online records.
Witnesses claim that when the police asked him to hand over the syrup, he fumbled it, picked it up and then overthrew the officers by 20 feet.
Even before his arrest, he was overweight, lazy and highly ineffective on the field. Why any NFL team would even give him a tryout at this point is behind me. Hopefully Russell likes Canada, because the CFL is the only football this asshat will be playing anytime soon, although the UFL is also a possibility I suppose.
I can’t wait for his agent to make a public announcement a couple of months from now saying how much Russell has turned his life around and is “in the best shape of his life.”
Despite an ESPN report stating that they had internal discussions about signing the free agent receiver, Raiders head coach Tom Cable is denying that the team is interested in Terrell Owens.
“We really haven’t had any discussion about that,” Cable said. “We’ve got a good, young receiving corps, it’s never been a point of conversation.”
“I think we did what was best for our football team, that’s the only thing that really matters here,” he said. “Why, why not, this or that, it doesn’t matter any more. What matters is we move forward as a football team and we did what we think gives us the best chance to succeed.”
Al Davis has always acquired talent with reckless abandon, but Cable’s second quote indicates that the Raiders are going to be smarter when it comes to bringing in new players.
For the first time in a long time, the Raiders have had direction this offseason. They dumped JaMarcus Russell, acquired Jason Campbell, had a productive draft (where the player selection actually made sense) and now appear to be staying away from players that don’t fit. Are we seeing a change in philosophy in Oakland?
While he may have only been trying to create a stir, Bengals’ receiver Chad Ochocinco said via his Twitter page yesterday that he would see JaMarcus Russell in camp. He then followed that up with: “did I just leak that info?”
Today, the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the Bengals are one of several teams that have called about Russell, although the quarterback’s agent issued a “terse no comment” when asked about the rumor.
As of right now, it doesn’t appear that Russell has plans to join any team during their mini-camp. He and his agent will likely wait to see what teams are interested and then figure out where Russell will have to put in the least amount of work and then sign with that team. After all the effort he put in with the Raiders, there’s no need for him to overextend himself when he gets to his new team.
If he winds up with the Bengals, at least Carson Palmer would be there to show him how a quarterback is supposed to work. I’m not sure how beneficial it would be to put Russell on the same team as Ochocinco, but I’m sure the Bengals don’t care. That organization is a circus anyway.
In his recent “2 Minute Blitz” video, Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz suggests that the Colts should take a chance on JaMarcus Russell. Kravitz lists the lack of options that the team has behind Peyton Manning and the possibility of Russell “seeing the light” while learning in a great organization as some of the reasons why the former No. 1 overall pick would be a fit in Indy.
On the surface, the idea isn’t as far-fetched as some may think. Curtis Painter did nothing in his limited time last year to suggest that he could be a capable backup for Manning, nonetheless someone that the Colts could actually count on to win a came if Peyton were ever to get injured. (Throw on game film of Painter’s effort against the Jets last year if you disagree.) Plus, Manning and Russell are polar opposites, so maybe JaMarcabust could learn something from the hardest working quarterback in the game.
That said, I’m one who believes that Russell will never get it. I think he wanted to parlay his junior season at LSU into a big payday in the NFL and that’s exactly what he did. With the backing of Al Davis, I think he knew he could do whatever he wanted and the checks were still going to come in the mail. I don’t think he wants it, nor do I think he ever will want it.
If the Colts did sign him, I wouldn’t pooh-pooh their decision because Russell could stand to learn a lot from Manning. He needs to be in that kind of structured environment if he ever has a shot to make it in the NFL. In fact, Indianapolis might just be the best spot for him.
But at the end of the day, a person can be in the right situation and still not change for the better. It would be up to Russell to make fundamental changes to improve his work ethic and I just don’t think he has the will, desire or dedication to do that.
The NFL draft is over and free agency is kind of in a lull. Mini-camps and stories about letting Pacman back into the league, JaMarcus Russell being released, or what counseling Big Ben is attending just don’t help the football jones we all have. So that’s why we’re back with a few Top 10 lists to ponder. This one for the active NFL passer ratings is good because it’s a solid indicator of who you might think about drafting for your fantasy team come August or September. And hey, we’re just a few months away!
1. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers (97.2)—Rodgers really emerged last season with 103.2 rating, especially once his line decided to keep him upright. He and the two guys immediately below him should win at least one ring in their careers solely because of their own talent.
2. Phillip Rivers, San Diego Chargers (95.8)—Rivers has topped 104 in QB rating the last two seasons. If you told me I could have one quarterback to win one game, I’m not sure this isn’t the guy I’d take. In fact, he IS the guy I’d take.
3. Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys (95.6)—Romo cut down his interceptions drastically in 2009, but the pundits and fans in Dallas still couldn’t lay off the guy. I’m telling you, they don’t know how good they have it with Romo at QB. As a Giants fan, this is one guy I cringe when facing.
4. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts (95.2)—Always solid, but Manning needed a freakish 121.1 rating in 2004 and two more seasons after that over 100 to make up for some really bad years early in his career. Still, he’s Peyton Freaking Manning.
5. Tom Brady, New England Patriots (93.3)—Speaking of freakish, Brady’s 117.2 in 2007 kicked him up a few spots here. You know, maybe this is the guy I want in a must-win game, but then again, he’s shown to be slightly damaged goods since the 2008 opener.
6. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints (91.9)—Brees finally won that elusive ring in 2009, and he also led the NFL with a 109.6 QB rating as well as a ridiculous 70.6 completion percentage. Yeah, I’d say he earned that ring.
7. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers (91.7)—A great quarterback that sadly has so much baggage, he has the Steelers and their fans wondering if he’s worth it. The two Super Bowl wins surely don’t hurt, but has Ben peaked?
8. Matt Schaub, Houston Texans (91.3)—Finally healthy a full season, this guy was fantasy gold in 2009. Look for his QB rating number to continue climbing—well, assuming he still has Andre Johnson to throw to.
9. Chad Pennington, Miami Dolphins (90.1)—He hasn’t quite matched his 104.2 mark in 2002, but Pennington was always an underrated QB. And kind of still is. I mean, this guy is still a backup? I can think of at least three teams he’d be starting for.
10. Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals (87.9)—He hasn’t reached 90 in QB rating since 2006, but it’s not often you hear anyone say a bad thing about Mr. Palmer.
Notable omissions: Not on this list are Donovan McNabb, Brett Favre, Eli Manning and Matt Hasselbeck. Okay, really, just the first two are surprising, but then again, maybe not so surprising.
