Al Davis has finally decided to cut the cord on JaMarcus Russell, who is currently competing with Ryan Leaf for biggest draft bust in NFL history. The 24-year-old quarterback was officially released on Thursday, just three seasons after he was selected as the top pick in the 2007 draft.
Somewhere, Lane Kiffin is laughing. He was the one that urged Davis not to draft Russell in ’07, but against his head coach’s wishes, Al selected the LSU product anyway. Russell finishes his career in Oakland with a 7-18 record, a 52.1 completion percentage, an 18:33 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a 65.2 passer rating. Comparing the numbers, I think Craig Krenzel may have produced better numbers.
At this point, there won’t be many teams (if any) lining up to sign the former first overall pick. Even a quarterback-hungry team like the Bills will likely stick with what they currently have on their roster, despite the fact that Russell can throw the ball the length of 87 football fields while sitting down. Everyone outside of Al Davis realizes that if a quarterback isn’t accurate, doesn’t want to work hard and takes half a season to get into shape, then it doesn’t matter how far he can throw.
It seems as if Russell just wants to take his big payday from the NFL and walk off into the distance with it. And maybe that’s exactly what he should do.
