The Raiders have been dragged at length for their misfires in the NFL Draft over the last two decades. But perhaps no poor selection has stuck with them more than choosing LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell with the first overall pick in 2007.
While Raider Nation knows all too well how things ended up with Russell under center, last season, we touched on how his selection has plagued the Silver and Black for over two decades. Now, we take the time to look at how a successful career for Russell in Oakland was dead on arrival.
This is the wild tale of how drafting JaMarcus Russell immediately proved to be a mistake, both for the young quarterback and the Raiders' organization.
Raiders drafting JaMarcus Russell immediately proved to be a mistake
Upon arriving in Oakland, it had already become clear to Russell that the Raiders were not all-in on him. While owner Al Davis had been warned against taking the All-SEC signal-caller by other NFL general managers, Davis still chose to bring Russell to the Bay Area.
Waiting for him was head coach Lane Kiffin, who would have much preferred eventual Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson. In fact, Russell has gone so far as to say that Davis was the only person in the building who wanted him, which made things contentious right away.
Russell did not necessarily help smooth the waters, however, as he held out of his first training camp due to a contractual dispute. He took the holdout as far as Week 1, where he sat out the team's opening game against the Detroit Lions, which surely ruffled some feathers within the locker room.
When he eventually signed his six-year, $68 million deal with $31.5 million guaranteed, he re-joined the team. But Kiffin, understandably, refused to name him the starter as he missed the preseason program. This rubbed Russell the wrong way, however, as the franchise used the first pick on him.
Kiffin certainly had the right idea, stating that quarterbacks like David Carr had been brought along too quickly, and it worked to their detriment. While this is certainly sound logic, it only further signaled to Russell that the coaching staff did not care for him or believe in him.
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Russell did eventually get to start, but it was not until Week 17 of his rookie season in 2007. While he performed okay in that game against the San Diego Chargers, he was sacked four times. He finished his rookie year with a 54.5% completion percentage, 373 yards, two touchdowns, four interceptions and four fumbles in just one start and four appearances.
His first significant action actually came the week before against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Russell completed just 7-of-23 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown, while throwing three interceptions and fumbling once.
This was certainly a rough start to his career, and his second campaign was not much better. He started 15 games in 2008, completing just 53.8% of his passes and throwing for 2,423 yards. He did record 13 touchdowns, but also threw eight interceptions and fumbled 12 times.
He was benched early in the 2009 season for Bruce Gradkowski, and the following offseason, the team traded for quarterback Jason Campbell. After this acquisition, the Raiders released Russell, and the rest, as they say, is history.
While Russell is certainly to blame for his off-the-field issues, his problems with maintaining weight before the season, and his role in the unconfirmed story about the blank cassette tape scandal, not everything was his fault in Oakland.
The Raiders were an absolute mess during this era, with or without Russell, and they were not able to climb out of the gutter of the AFC until the 2016 NFL season. Of course, the final blow was him and the Raiders filing grievances against each other after his departure, when truly, both were to blame.
In re-hashing Russell's tenure with the Silver and Black, it becomes clear that it did not take years to finally gain perspective and realize that his was a poor move for both Russell and the franchise. Selecting him was immediately proven to be a mistake.
To understand Russell's perspective of how things went down in Oakland, he wrote a piece for the Players' Tribune titled, "Y'all Don't Know a Damn Thing About JaMarcus Russell." He also told his side of the story on an episode of "The Pivot Podcast."