“They played a fu***ng game with my life”: Former No.1 pick JaMarcus Russell blasts the Raiders over the Blank Tape situation
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JaMarcus Russell
JaMarcus Russell has not been in the limelight for a while now, the quarterback who was the first pick in the 2007 NFL draft is widely considered to be the biggest draft bust in league history. This is shocking, if he was that bad how did he manage to headline the 2007 draft in a class that featured the likes of Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch, and Darrell Revis.
The quarterback is back in the spotlight now, he recently went on The Pivot Podcast, hosted by Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor. He gave his perspective on his entire situation and claimed that the reason he could not excel was the then Oakland Raiders organization. The team that drafted him also set him up for failure. Here’s how.
The Oakland Raiders once tested JaMarcus Russell by giving him a blank film instead of a tape with game film:
On numerous occasions, Russell claims the Raiders put him down, and rather than having his back, they themselves began to undermine him. The quarterback adds that he was never able to bond with coach Tom Cable and the other coordinators. His head coach began to look at better QBs in free agency while Russell was the starter, this led to a lot of animosity between them.
Russell was also tested on multiple occasions by the Raiders to check if he actually watches game film or not. The infamous ‘Blank Tape’ incident is one that is synonymous with Russell’s name. Hear what happened from the quarterback’s own mouth.
“At that point of time, in my life what was taking place, I may have not watched it but when they asked me a question about it, it was cool, like let’s get on with it.” Rusell goes on to add that the Raiders essentially “fu**** ” him over. The quarterback was given a blank film by the team and was told that it is the game film that he was supposed to review. There were rumors that Russell never watched film and that he was blank at team meetings. To test this, the Raiders did that and when he found out about it, he was furious and could not believe that the team stabbed him in the back like this.
“Why would you play a game with my fu***** life? Why would you fu** me over? You’re supposed to be teaching me so that we can get better,” JaMarcus adds and believes that something like this would never happen at LSU, his alma mater. “LSU would have done no sh** like that because why would we even play it like that?”. The quarterback was not given any prior hint about such a test nor had the team asked him about his work ethic and if he watched film.
His coach went on live TV and stated that Russell is the worst thing to happen to the Oakland Raiders. “I never knew this man, I would have stuck my neck out for this guy. This is my coach,” Russell gets emotional and concludes.
JaMarcus Russell was just never meant to be that guy for any franchise. He is one of those stories that came into the league riding high on his immense talent and potential but he could not work enough towards becoming the best version of himself. The stories from some of his teammates and coaches do his image no justice either but at the same time, the Raiders are also not completely innocent in this debacle.
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Sumedh Joshi
(2289 Articles Published)