“I was dealt a fu**ed up hand”: Former Raiders QB and biggest NFL bust JaMarcus Russell accuses the Las Vegas Raiders of ruining his career
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JaMarcus Russell
Every year in the NFL Draft, we have 100s of new rookies entering the league, and as we know, not all of them last in the league for years, some of them may be released after just one season or even mid-way through the season. The most pressure to succeed in the draft lies on the No.1 overall pick. The top picks are expected to become stars in the league and if they settle for anything less than that, they are classified as a bust.
JaMarcus Russell is one such quarterback who came into the league with a ton of talent and potential. He was picked No.1 overall by the Oakland Raiders in 2007. His NFL career was short-lived as he only played for three seasons before being released. He never took another snap again in the NFL.
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“I didn’t feel like they were there for me”: JaMarcus Russell takes shots at the Raiders for ruining his career
The former LSU quarterback sat down with hosts Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor of The Pivot Podcast to discuss his life now and his rather underwhelming NFL career. The quarterback accused the Raiders of making him feel unwelcomed. The team that he was on was bad and that in combination with the organization’s attitude negatively affected his performance.
.“I wasn’t doing crazy sh*t, I was trying to chill, relax, and win some football games. Unfortunately, I wasn’t winning. But I was dealt a fu**ed up hand,” Russell spoke about his situation in Oakland. “I’m at practice and these folks couldn’t catch a reverse. Six plays straight, but you want to go downfield and catch a 90-yard pass.”
“I didn’t feel that (The Raiders) wanted me at all. Going into that building was like, ‘What’s going to happen today? I was getting fined for crazy sh*t. They was trying to find ways to get paper back, I thought. Then they said I owed them money. Why would I owe them money? I signed a contract,” Russell concludes.
The relationship between the quarterback and the team is extremely sour as the team regrets spending its first pick on him and Russell believes the Raiders organization ruined his entire career. He spoke about the coaching staff on that team in 2009, Head Coach Tom Cable in particular who replaced Lane Kiffin halfway through the quarterback’s second season as a Raider.
Russell has never kept his dislike of Cable a secret and during the podcast as well, he continued to take shots at him. “He was already jiving me from the get-go. That’s how I feel, I don’t know what’s going on in this building. I don’t know who’s with me and who’s against me. That sh*t was lonely,” the quarterback spoke about why he never got along with Coach Cable.
The Raiders have attempted to undermine JaMarcus Russell on multiple occasions. Once, the team reportedly gave him a completely blank game tape to see if the quarterback actually bothers to watch film. The quarterback does not admit or deny this story but hinted that he may not have watched film but was always ready to play.
“Why would you play a fu****g game with my life. Why would you f**k me over? You’re supposed to be teaching me so we can get better. I never got that. LSU wouldn’t have done no sh*t like that,” he concludes.
Russell has been vocal that he was never given a fair chance as the other rookies and top picks are as his situation was bad. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong for him. However, now the quarterback seems to be at peace in life. He just has one thing to tell all those who call him a bust, “If you’re going to call me a bust, put ‘biggest’ on that (expletive) then,” It is unfortunate that he was not able to prove his potential to the league but at the same time, it is good to see that he has moved on from the past.
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Sumedh Joshi
(2296 Articles Published)