How BAD Was Jamarcus Russell Actually?

if there was no jamarcus russell we would still be sitting around talking about ryan leaf being the biggest bust ever but seriously what happened to russell how does a guy who towers over everyone at six foot six and walks into the nfl with the strongest arm fall apart so quickly the guy was a number one overall pick today we will break down just how bad jamarcus russell was actually [Music] in the rural town of mobile alabama jamarcus russell was the big fish in the small pond no actually he was the biggest his freshman season at williamson high school he was already six foot three with a cannon for an arm on his knees he could throw a ball 70 yards with the likes of nick saban les miles and bobby boden recruiting him already they can back up that ridiculous story jamarcus impressed his coaches so much as an 8th grader he became the starter immediately as a freshman jamarcus took williamston to the state championship where they lost a close game he was the leader of the program for the next four years putting together workouts and assembling seven on seven teams on his own he dominated and by the end of his high school career his 1077 passing yards became the all-time alabama record a consensus five-star rated pocket passer russell committed to lsu over florida state russell red shirted his freshman year but in his second season he was handed the reigns as the lsu starter almost immediately with jimbo fisher as his play caller and qb coach russell excelled and led the tigers to a 10-1 record and an sec championship berth he was dominant again in his junior year improving his numbers from the previous year and in his final season he posted 3167 yards and 28 touchdowns to only 8 interceptions after another 10-1 season russell lit up notre dame in the sugar bowl and won mvp honors jamarcus decided to forego his senior year enter the 2007 nfl draft and here is where everything seemingly fell apart lane kiffin described his arm as something off of madden mike mayok said jamarcus russell's pro day was the greatest he'd ever seen with the ability to throw from every arm angle at a massive six foot six 260 pounds with more than enough mobility jamarcus russell had a combo of skills we haven't seen in the nfl but there were alarming issues when asked about where he would need to grow as a player russell looked puzzled almost offended at the question after a few awkward moments russell said he didn't think he had a weak point sheesh unable to pass upon russell's potential raiders owner and general manager al davis selected russell with the first overall pick of the 2007 draft over the opportunity to draft future hall of famer calvin johnson in the process there wasn't even a honeymoon period for the raiders without rookie contract restrictions in place yet jamarcus russell and his agent fought tooth and nail for every dollar on his rookie deal a lot harder than russell would ever fight while wearing the silver and black when they didn't get the deal they wanted russell held out of raiders training camp the real jamarcus russell was standing up it took the second week of the regular season before they came to an agreement a gigantic six-year 61 million dollar deal with 32 million dollars of that guaranteed so far behind in the playbook russell didn't make his debut until two months later on december 2nd he only played two series before the starter came back the starter was knocked out again against the jacksonville jaguars and russell came in as a relief he was awful yes he threw his first career touchdown it came with six seconds left in the fourth quarter from a two yard past the goal line before that he couldn't throw a rock in the ocean handing over three picks and losing a fumble in the process the game was out of hand but russell looked like a deer in headlights blatantly throwing passes into hordes of coverage he completed 8 out of 23 passes his first official start came the next week and he didn't even finish the game after two more picks and another fumble he finished his rookie season with two touchdowns to five interceptions and two fumbles the next season russell was slotted as the incumbent starter but grumblings of his offseason lack of work ethic were leaking out when he returned the next year he looked about 40 pounds heavier which makes sense when we found out the quarterback room had to bribe jamarcus with mcdoubles just to show up for film study he was reportedly fined for missing team meetings and during otas he made a long speech about finishing strong then disappeared the last day the season was as much a disaster as you expected russell's beaming passes hit green grass more than raiders gloves the only thing russell connected with more than the ground is defenders in his first win russell completed six out of 17 passes for 55 yards he was inconsistent but finished the season with the two best games of his career that bought him another year as the raiders quarterback but early in 2009 the raiders realized those wins came in spite of russell not because of russell russell's third and final season is the worst season for a qb in history he lasted only five weeks before being benched when the guy he got benched for got hurt he got a second chance yeah he ruined that too when they couldn't move the ball of jamarcus at the helm he got benched immediately losing his job to charlie fry by season's end he ranked last in completion percentage yards and passing touchdowns but that's not enough we gotta give you the numbers russell completed 48.8 percent of passes for only three touchdowns while tossing 11 interceptions and losing six more fumbles when oakland was shut out by the jets jamarcus didn't take any blame for the game despite nearly blowing it himself 2009 would be the last time he would play in the nfl during the offseason russell came in overweight again then the infamous blank tape incident happened oh you haven't heard the raiders coaches were so convinced that jamarcus wasn't watching an ounce of film that they sent him home with blank tapes to study and called them blitzes telling them to watch it the next morning raiders coaches asked what he thought of the films jamarcus replied looks good that was the final nail in the coffin for jamarcus russell as an oakland raider when they traded for jason campbell the raiders dumped him after just three seasons russell was out of a job and before he could ever get any second chance he was arrested on drug charges all the rumors of russell's real life finally came out once he was out of the league espn reported russell tested positive for codeine before the draft a private investigator the raiders hired to tell russell followed him to casinos nearly every night of the week leading up to the draft they still drafted him it is inevitable to face the passion to reach the mountaintop of pro football never existed for jamarcus russell his greatness at lsu got him 60 million dollars to ball out on and he didn't care what happened after statistically jamarcus russell is the worst quarterback of the 21st century which is crazy considering he also may have been the most talented he banished the oakland raiders to the stone age disappointed their legion of fans and was booted from the league after just 25 starts jamarcus russell was so bad that every player drafted has a cap now for how much they can get paid he just didn't care simple as that jamarcus russell is the worst number one overall pick ever his nfl career will live in infamy next to the four letter word bust

Channel: Nonstop

Views: 2,202,449

Keywords: NFL, NFL Busts, biggest busts in nfl history, jamarcus russell, jamarcus russell highlights, jamarcus russell story, jamarcus russell draft, #1 draft pick, 2007 NFL draft

Id: s0Xy960CF-k

Length: 7min 13sec (433 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 24 2021