The Biggest Bust in NFL History

[Music] I am a person that believes in second chances I think America is the land of Second Chances except for when it comes to this dude Mr Jabba the Hutt you fat slobberly no good lady oh my gosh Stephen A what in the world could have gone so wrong that we ended up here from the very beginning in his hometown of Mobile Alabama JaMarcus Russell was a big fish in a small pond well I guess you could say he was the biggest at 6'3 he was already starting for his high school football team as a freshman because of his size athleticism and having a cannon for an arm Jamarcus was already attracting attention from the top college football programs in the country another major reason was right out of the gate he was a winner leading his team to the state championship as a freshman and for the next three years at Williamson High School it would be more of the same Jamarcus playing as a man amongst boys he became the state's all-time career leader in almost every passing category with the biggest eye-opening record being his 10 774 career passing yards an Alabama High School record that still stands today by the time he was a senior he had also grown in size measuring in at 6'5 and just a little over 220 pounds since he already attracted the top college football programs as a freshman he was obviously going to be in the top 100 recruits by his senior year ranking top five amongst quarterbacks Jamarcus had scholarship offers from Auburn Florida state Florida Tennessee and LSU out of all the schools he visited LSU was definitely number one because he visited there a total of six times with the most famous recruiting story being him standing on his knees and throwing the ball 70 yards nickname even saw it with his own eyes and thought it was amazing going on to say he was that type of talent and some of the things he did you simply couldn't coach Jamarcus committed to LSU on national Signing Day where he redshirted his freshman year just before he was about to get some playing time his sophomore year there was some bad news involving his family his Uncle Ray Ray who was a popular radio host in Mobile announced on air that he was fighting heart disease and would need a heart transplant this man was a father figure to Jamarcus and obviously this news took a heavy toll on him personally after some time had passed he was able to cope with the news better and continued with his football career to represent him on the field he wore a green wristband in his honor and also did by his play on the field while he had limited playing time in 2004 by 2005 he was named the starter throwing for nearly 2500 yards words as well as 15 touchdowns with the QB rating of 136 not only leading the Tigers to multiple come from behind victories but leading them to a 10-1 regular season record and an SEC championship appearance with a shot at making the national championship game on the line LSU would lose to Georgia 34-14 despite a disappointing end it was still a great season for the most part especially for Jamarcus but in 2006 he would top that throwing for just a little over 3000 yards and 28 touchdowns as well as having a QB rating of 167. his best moment that season came in a game against Tennessee where he started off poorly throwing three interceptions but by the end of the game he led them on a 15-play 80-yard comeback drive while that was his best moment during the regular season his best game came in the Sugar Bowl throwing and rushing for a a combined 350 yards and three touchdowns leading LSU to a 41-14 win over Notre Dame he was named the Sugar Bowl MVP and let's not forget the Manning Award winner as well as a Davey O'Brien semi-finalist after a season like that the next logical move was to make the jump to the NFL his performance in the scouting combine was off the charts as teams praised his arm strength and size as that rare combination would be hard to pass up at number one here's where the problems begin to start the team with the number one pick that season was the Oakland Raiders the previous season they're often struggled heavily being the worst offense in the league scoring a total of 168 points which averaged out to 10 and a half a game this put them as one of the worst offenses in NFL history and his was a team that had Randy Moss at wide receiver the organization had turned into a poverty franchise at this point with the final years of Al Davis running the team being filled with nothing but inconsistency amongst the coaching staff and roster as well as bad play and bad decisions in free agency and the giraffe Al Davis viewed Jamarcus as the Savior however new head coach Lane kiffin had a different savior in mind future hall of fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson the night before the draft Lane kiffin made one final pitch to Al Davis about why they should take Calvin Johnson but I guess you could say Al Davis already made his decision after watching the sugar bowl with the first pick in the 2007 NFL draft the Oakland Raiders select JaMarcus Russell quarterback LSU it seemed like a no-brainer at the time three years from now you could be looking at a guy who's certainly one of the elite top five quarterbacks in this league skill level that he has is certainly John Elway light you had analysts saying during the draft he was John on Elway like and that this was the only quarterback in the draft that you build around unfortunately after drafting him there were already problems he tested positive for codeine after the 2007 draft a substance he first used when as a kid he accidentally drank a soda with codeine in it and didn't report to all of training camp in pre-season yeah after failing to reach a contract agreement he held out through all of training camp and into the first week of the NFL season he hasn't taken a snap and already the fan base was livid eventually they would reach an agreement where he signed a six-year deal worth up to 68 million with 31 and a half million guaranteed once he joined the team he was still required to do his rookie show performance in it all he did was show up with a backpack full of money and threw it all over the place well free cash for everyone what is my my life as the Raiders struggled through the season Russell wouldn't make his first professional appearance until early December and the final week of the Season he made his first NFL start completing 23 of 31 passes for 224 yards along with one touchdown and one interception with the QB rating of 91.3 not bad for your first start and considering the way the season had began it was great to finally see that potential on full display he wasn't going to miss any training camp or pre-season in 2008 so everyone assumed he was going to take the next step not in this case the team started one in three leading to Lane kiffin's firing after four games with Al Davis holding a bizarre press conference afterwards calling out the former head coach for the way he handled JaMarcus Russell saying I realize you did not want to draft JaMarcus Russell he is a great player get over it and Coach this team on the field that's what you you were hired to do Tom Cable was named interim head coach and the team continued to struggle following up a 4 and 12 season with a 5-11 record 2008 would turn out to be Russell's best season starting 15 games and throwing just a little under 2 500 yards along with 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions and a QB rating of just a little over 77 but a stat that stands out the most was his 12 fumbles the organization and fans were hoping for major Improvement in year three unfortunately for JaMarcus Russell his personal life would take a turn for the worse four months after the season his Uncle Ray Ray who had moved to Oakland to live with Jamarcus would pass away from heart disease that was on April 17th exactly three months later in July Russell's Uncle Mike died suddenly from a heart attack obviously football was the last thing on his mind however less than a week later he reported the training camp Russell never told told the team about him struggling with the deaths of his uncles but the team never asked as well once he reported it became clear right away that he wasn't ready to play weighing in at exactly 305 pounds with everything he was going through in such a short period of time he just didn't care anymore so while the Stephen A Smith missed her job of the Hutt you fat slob quote is the funniest of all time to some just remember the context we're not only human at the end of the day but we all handle tragic situations differently but still with all the guaranteed money he had received and being the first overall pick with so much expectations the organization in the fan base were very disappointed not only did he have weight problems but the work ethic never got any better there was a famous story where one of the coaches handed him a DVD to watch film on a specific team the next day Russell returns to the facility and the coach asked him if he watched the film he tells him yes he's ready to go then the coach reveals it was a blank DVD so he didn't watch the DVD but yet he told everyone oh y'all why should I do and that's when I think they kind of knew like uh oh we're in trouble the 2009 season turned out to be the worst of his career starting in a total of nine games throwing for a little over 1200 yards along with three touchdowns but 11 interceptions and a QB rating of 50. by that point the Raiders had enough during the off-season they traded for Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell and in early May the Raiders officially released JaMarcus Russell hopes of a second chance in the NFL were quickly thrown away when Russell was arrested at his Mobile Alabama home for being in possession of codeine syrup without a valid prescription his career in the NFL ended with a total of 4083 yards 18 touchdowns and 23 interceptions with a QB rating of 65.2 certainly a far cry from what was expected just three years earlier if you were to ask football fans who the biggest bust in NFL history is it's usually a toss-up between Ryan Leaf and JaMarcus Russell it's such a shame because if you watched him play in college he was something special because of multiple factors which included his codeine use which he never meant to start in the first place as well as his eating habits and his poor work ethic JaMarcus Russell was never going to cut it in the NFL you also have to put some blame towards the Raiders front office for not doing their due diligence and fully scouting him Lane kiffin saw it from a mile away and perhaps drafting Calvin Johnson could have quickly changed the trajectory of that franchise today JaMarcus Russell is living his best life in Mobile Alabama he made his money fixed his personal issues settled down around family and friends and even coached High School football at one point or another while he didn't meet the expectations in the NFL football is just a game life's more important and today he looks content and at peace but of course when you bring up his professional career he is certainly one of the biggest busts in NFL history but funny enough according to the man himself you might as well call him the biggest I must have been the best to be the biggest right I'll say my turn off how I would wanted to or not how they expected it to if you're gonna call me a bush like you say put the biggest on there

Channel: Stark Raving Sports

Views: 443,401

Keywords: Stark Raving Sports, Sports, stark raving sports youtube, youtube stark raving sports, stark raving sports, sports, sports entertainment, sports educational, sports analysis, sports news, sports opinion, nfl, black flags matter, football, nfl draft, nfl draft busts, jamarcus russell, jamarcus russell highlights, raiders, las vegas raiders, oakland raiders, raiders highlights, jamarcus russell draft, jamarcus russell interview

Id: WWpJ7d4urfg

Length: 12min 41sec (761 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 06 2023