Jamarcus russell the bust

[mstrbass2000]

[Rabidraider]

He's dead to me....

[Boomer14-]

absolutely 0 effort after cashing in equals biggest bust ever. Why is he trying to defend himself? Because he knows there is nothing he can do about it now cause he knew he didn't give any effort. Would he have given any more effort for a different franchise? Hell no, prolly hasn't seen a classroom since junior high!

[Attyla]

While there are obvious biases among Raiders fans, here are a couple actual arguments why he is the worst bust of all times. First and quite obvious, his actual talent. He had an arm that could make all the throws. He should have scared every DB out there to death. He ended up scaring nobody. Second, his build, while he was on the heavy side, he was tall with a build that should have been able to take the punishment at the next level. He got destroyed out there. Third and most telling, it can be argued that the worst busts of all time were Russell, Leaf, Mandarich and Akili Smith. Of the four, Russell was taken first over all, Leaf and Mandarich were taken second and Smith third. Those other three guys, while taken extremely high in the draft, did not go number one. There is a special kind of hell that awaits a guy who goes first in the draft who fails at the level Russell failed.

Now, here is where context matters.
Smith was a certified idiot. His initial wonderlich score was 16, which is not damning in and of itself but it was bad enough that his agent got him a tutor to beef up the score. He never could master a playbook, these are not excuses, but the reality. He just did not have the mental makeup to learn how to do his job. Since leaving the NFL he has been trying to finish his college degree. A degree he is still working on 28 years later

Ryan Leaf, he was vastly immature and did not take to being mentored well, convinced he was fine. He began self medicating. Leaf was not heavily recruited coming out of high school but found a place at Washington State after previously having conversations with Dennis Erickson at Miami about becoming a tight end. Needless to say, he overachieved in college where he peaked. Coming to San Diego, he was just barely not the first overall pick with the bigger arm. This is where his immaturity flared up. The rest is history.

And then there is Tony Mandarich. Mandarich was a roid player and that is how he kept himself as one of the top players in his draft. Rumor had it he kept a syringe on him during practices. But with the drug testing at the next level, he was not able to sustain that and he never learned how to sustain blocks and he was more about his image than being a student of the game. But to his credit, he was able to move inside which extended his career. He was also a boozer and addicted to painkillers, which he claimed sapped his will to work.

All three of these guys had a lot of excuses for their failure. But they also had some legitimate reasons as well. And those reasons are probably the reasons they did not go first overall.

Now to Russell. We probably should have done our homework. He was out of shape, he was reportedly lazy and Davis was warned by insiders that there were significant issues surrounding Russell. And it was reported that Kiffin wanted nothing to do with him. It is well documented that Russell did not watch tape, did not control his appetite and was exceptionally lazy. He played around with drugs and he was an excuse bomb. His article, years after he failed in the NFL, pushed almost all the blame to others, most notably to the Raiders. Still defiant to this day, accountability for his career is not forthcoming. Everyone did it to Russell in his eyes. And how did everyone respond? Well in 2016 Russell wrote 32 pathetic letters to all the teams asking for a tryout. He reportedly even stated he would "run the scout team or be a water boy" if that would secure a second chance. He got crickets in response.

Is he the biggest bust of all time? I think it is safe to say the facts suggest he is. He has been a failure every since he left college. He probably would do himself the biggest favors by remaining out of the spotlight. He does not have the cognitive skills to know how to fix an image tarnished by years of the blame game.

[Nor_Cal_Raider]

I was hoping that he's broke and standing in a food line to feed his fat ass.

[Willmark]

While there are obvious biases among Raiders fans, here are a couple actual arguments why he is the worst bust of all times. First and quite obvious, his actual talent. He had an arm that could make all the throws. He should have scared every DB out there to death. He ended up scaring nobody. Second, his build, while he was on the heavy side, he was tall with a build that should have been able to take the punishment at the next level. He got destroyed out there. Third and most telling, it can be argued that the worst busts of all time were Russell, Leaf, Mandarich and Akili Smith. Of the four, Russell was taken first over all, Leaf and Mandarich were taken second and Smith third. Those other three guys, while taken extremely high in the draft, did not go number one. There is a special kind of hell that awaits a guy who goes first in the draft who fails at the level Russell failed.

Now, here is where context matters.
Smith was a certified idiot. His initial wonderlich score was 16, which is not damning in and of itself but it was bad enough that his agent got him a tutor to beef up the score. He never could master a playbook, these are not excuses, but the reality. He just did not have the mental makeup to learn how to do his job. Since leaving the NFL he has been trying to finish his college degree. A degree he is still working on 28 years later

Ryan Leaf, he was vastly immature and did not take to being mentored well, convinced he was fine. He began self medicating. Leaf was not heavily recruited coming out of high school but found a place at Washington State after previously having conversations with Dennis Erickson at Miami about becoming a tight end. Needless to say, he overachieved in college where he peaked. Coming to San Diego, he was just barely not the first overall pick with the bigger arm. This is where his immaturity flared up. The rest is history.

And then there is Tony Mandarich. Mandarich was a roid player and that is how he kept himself as one of the top players in his draft. Rumor had it he kept a syringe on him during practices. But with the drug testing at the next level, he was not able to sustain that and he never learned how to sustain blocks and he was more about his image than being a student of the game. But to his credit, he was able to move inside which extended his career. He was also a boozer and addicted to painkillers, which he claimed sapped his will to work.

All three of these guys had a lot of excuses for their failure. But they also had some legitimate reasons as well. And those reasons are probably the reasons they did not go first overall.

Now to Russell. We probably should have done our homework. He was out of shape, he was reportedly lazy and Davis was warned by insiders that there were significant issues surrounding Russell. And it was reported that Kiffin wanted nothing to do with him. It is well documented that Russell did not watch tape, did not control his appetite and was exceptionally lazy. He played around with drugs and he was an excuse bomb. His article, years after he failed in the NFL, pushed almost all the blame to others, most notably to the Raiders. Still defiant to this day, accountability for his career is not forthcoming. Everyone did it to Russell in his eyes. And how did everyone respond? Well in 2016 Russell wrote 32 pathetic letters to all the teams asking for a tryout. He reportedly even stated he would "run the scout team or be a water boy" if that would secure a second chance. He got crickets in response.

Is he the biggest bust of all time? I think it is safe to say the facts suggest he is. He has been a failure every since he left college. He probably would do himself the biggest favors by remaining out of the spotlight. He does not have the cognitive skills to know how to fix an image tarnished by years of the blame game.

It was rumored (not sure if confirmed) but his initial Wonderlic score was a 9.

[Viper]

To be the number one pick in a draft, most often being at Qb, you need heart and dedication to succeed, no matter the talent you possess.
He had neither.

[mstrbass2000]

blame it on al davis

whom over ruled all of the scouts,coaches forcing em to deal with it ...this costed the raiders 5 plus yrs
i remember reading an article where once the scouts,coaches met jbust and heard him speak they all said no thanks

[Willmark]

Think about it.

For a lot of these guys, maybe almost every NFL player? They have been the best athlete on the field from the time they are little. That is largely true for a lot of them in college.

Finally they make it to the NFL and suddenly for the first time there are a LOT of guys better thank you. Some rise to the occasion, many don’t.

In Russell’s case I think he was about to coast on his arm and it was “easy”.

Until it wasn’t.

[mstrbass2000]

It was rumored (not sure if confirmed) but his initial Wonderlic score was a 9.

closer to zero ...dudes i bet he couldn't even add 1 plus 1

[mstrbass2000]

Think about it.

For a lot of these guys, maybe almost every NFL player? They have been the best athlete on the field from the time they are little. That is largely true for a lot of them in college.

Finally they make it to the NFL and suddenly for the first time there are a LOT of guys better thank you. Some rise to the occasion, many don’t.

In Russell’s case I think he was about to coast on his arm and it was “easy”.

Until it wasn’t.

jbust never even tried ...dude extorted a big bag from al davis after the draft (holding out) costing him his rookie season and putting himself a yr behind...then the purple drank shit pops up ...anyone think al davis knew nothing about any of that prior to the draft ???

[Opoponax50]

Jamarcus Russell in college was really a good QB…
But he was drafted by the raiders who at the time was run by Al Davis in his decline; probably the worst team for Russell to go to….

Always thought that if Russell was drafted by another team he might have had decent career in NFL….

Not really going to call Russell the biggest bust; just think he came to the wrong team in which totally destroyed his confidence as an NFL QB….

You have to agree that in Al Davis decline; the raiders were really a bad team

No way. Russell was a spoiled baby lazy ass who took the money and waddled off. He'd had his ass kissed since high school and was good enough to not have to work hard in college, where his fat ass was kissed even more. When he got paid, that was it. He's never been conciliatory for f[raiders_icon]cking over the Raiders and its fanbase. He still blames everyone else for his apathy. It's disgusting.

Leaf was nowhere near the bust that Russell was. In Leaf's case, he just wasn't ready for the pressure and he cracked. Certainly he was a bust, but he did try to be a good player. There's a difference in not being up to the job and making zero effort to do the job.

[Willmark]

Leaf was nowhere near the bust that Russell was. In Leaf's case, he just wasn't ready for the pressure and he cracked. Certainly he was a bust, but he did try to be a good player. There's a difference in not being up to the job and making zero effort to do the job.

Try to be a good player? Not sure about that. The infamous screaming incident was as I recall 4-5 games into the season.

Both were immature in different ways. Throwing gobs of money at them didn’t help.

[Viper]

No way. Russell was a spoiled baby lazy ass who took the money and waddled off. He'd had his ass kissed since high school and was good enough to not have to work hard in college, where his fat ass was kissed even more. When he got paid, that was it. He's never been conciliatory for f[raiders_icon]cking over the Raiders and its fanbase. He still blames everyone else for his apathy. It's disgusting.

Leaf was nowhere near the bust that Russell was. In Leaf's case, he just wasn't ready for the pressure and he cracked. Certainly he was a bust, but he did try to be a good player. There's a difference in not being up to the job and making zero effort to do the job.

Can you imagine still being relevant today is because you are only being discussed about being the biggest bust in NFL history? He should embrace because it’s the only thing he’s earned.

[Opoponax50]

blame it on al davis

whom over ruled all of the scouts,coaches forcing em to deal with it ...this costed the raiders 5 plus yrs
i remember reading an article where once the scouts,coaches met jbust and heard him speak they all said no thanks

It's fair to blame Al for drafting him, but that didn't give Russell any reason to flake the f*** out like he did. A real competitor would've set out to prove everyone wrong and to prove Al right, but he didn't care about any of that yet still profited tremendously. I have zero qualms with a player getting paid. A career can end on any play, so they need to make as much as possible. However, there needs to be 100% effort in order to earn that money.

What's especially sickening is that to this day, the SOB still blames everyone else rather than taking any responsibility for his minimal effort and betrayal of the Raiders and its fans.

[Opoponax50]

Try to be a good player? Not sure about that. The infamous screaming incident was as I recall 4-5 games into the season.

Both were immature in different ways. Throwing gobs of money at them didn’t help.

I remember the screaming incident. It was bad but to me it looked like a young man melting under the spotlight. He flipped out and failed which is different than Russel, who couldn't be arsed to give the slightest damn about anything. There is an unethical, irresponsible, smug and apathetic presence that Russell has that Leaf doesn't. To me they're worlds apart.