With JaMarcus Russell’s release last week, he has now slightly supplanted Ryan Leaf as the largest bust in NFL Draft history. And if not for Jared Lorenzen, the “largest” could’ve applied towards his weight at the position too.
It took only three disappointing seasons to see the top pick in the 2007 Draft kicked to the curb and thus ZERO return for Oakland on what will end up a $39 million investment.
From the get go however, this pick was bound to fail.
Lane Kiffin, then head coach of the Raiders, desperately wanted WR Calvin Johnson but was overruled by Al Davis and Co., who still believe QBs with arms strong enough to throw the ball 70 yards and WRs with sub 4.2 speed are the way to win in this league.
But above this, it was the Raiders lack of due diligence on Russell which ended up doing them in.
There’s two qualities which usually separate the average players from the very good/great: work ethic and motivation.
And when you’re picking at the top of the draft, you can ill-afford to land an average player.
Numerous reports prior to the 2007 Draft suggested that Russell displayed poor work ethic while at LSU.
As to motivation, while it’s questionable whether he had any in the first place, it’s hard to see where the Raiders figured it was going to come from considering the Draft’s top pick is set for life on his first contract.
There are some positions where talent alone can get you by; QB is not one of them.
It takes countless hours of classroom study and practice just to be ready to compete on Sunday’s, and when you mix god given talent on top of that, that is usually what separates the best from the rest.
Russell failed miserably on the first two, so it’s easy to see why the third, which he possessed, did little for him on the field.
In the end, the Raiders could’ve had their choice of WR Calvin Johnson, RB Adrian Peterson or LT Joe Thomas, and that in itself is a tough pill to swallow, but if you’re a Raiders fan and looking for a positive sign out of this mess, at least the organization knew when to cut its losses.
Got to start somewhere.
