http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/nfl/05/06/raiders-russell.ap/index.html?eref=sihp
Probably won’t get much discussion since it was almost a foregone conclusion, but as a Raiders fan, I just gotta take a moment to exult in it and say… HELL YEAH!
Good luck with JC. Hope he does better there than he did over here.
$39 million for seven wins as a starter. Somewhere, Ryan Leaf is laughing his ass off.
Heh…anyone else look at the the link in that article reading “GALLERY: First-round QB picks who were busts” and think “What the hell? Robert Gallery wasn’t a quarterb…ohhhh…”
He’ll probably be another Bengals reclamation project…
I’d love to see Russell start for Atlanta…
GEAUX SAINTS!
Thank god, this is the best news I have heard all day. The offseason has been looking really good for the Raiders, and with the rest of the division looking so weak we might actually have that shot at the playoffs we have been hoping for.
I’m probably nuts, but that’s what offseason is for right?
I still have a weird irrational optimism that the Raiders would be a good team if only they had a quarterback, and now that they do I expect them to at least contend for a wildcard spot. I have no rational basis for this feeling, but I’ve had it all offseason long.
EDIT: For the record I’m a Giants fan who doesn’t care a whit about the Raiders. That’s part of the “weirdness” of my “optimism.” Even weirder is that as a secondary Jets fan I hate the Raiders thanks to all those losses in the early 2000s. I guess it just boils down to I think the league is better when the Raiders (, Steelers, Packers, Bears, and Giants) are good.
I’ll give you guys in on the SD on JC: you’d better have a good OL in front of him or the results aren’t going to be much better than Russell. Okay, they’ll probably still be better than Russell, but in any case JC tends to stare down his #1 receiver and hold on to the ball just a bit too long, i.e. just long enough for the defense to get to him and sack/strip the ball away from him. Your TE (Zach Miller?) will have a good year; he’s going to be catching a lot of balls over the middle 3 yards short of a 1st down. He’ll be better than Russell, but he plays indecisive and a bit scared.
I want to see the Lions pick him up. We need a backup right tackle.
Unfortunately I think our Oline and our WRs are our weakest links on the team now (That and our total lack of fullbacks, but I expect that to be fixed before the season starts). I really like how our D looks. Really a whole lot. It’s the first time is a while I have been excited to see a defense take the field.
Miller is a great TE, and McFadden will make for a good slot receiver when he isn’t running, so Campbell should have some people to throw to. I don’t trust our WRs at all, but they are fast as all hell and if they have someone who can throw with a bit of accuracy they might be able to hang onto the ball a bit. Schilens should have a good year if he can get healthy and maybe Heyward-Bey will finally come into his own. The team is still going to be focused on the running game I think, but having an actual team leader in the QB position will make a huge difference all on its own.
Russel showed up at camp weighing 280 +. They wanted him to show he cared enough to get in shape. They still worked with him hoping they could avoid making the move. Sad, but he walks off with a lot of money. He will have to make it last for the rest of his life.
Agreed! (Hell, I’d take him back at LSU, though.)
Who Dat! 
So, is this like the 7th time they’ve tried rebuilding since the Gannon days? [Saying this as a former Raider fan] I wish them luck.
Steelers fan here.
I’m rather neutral on the whole russell situation. However, it seems they did a good job of reining in the old man this year, and hopefully better times are ahead.
heh, someday we’ll look back on this as the “curse of the gruden.” 
Ryan Leaf is no longer the NFL’s #1 draft bust of all time. He’s a happy man today!
What a waste of talent. I’m a Steeler fan, so I have no love for the Raiders, but I have to give them credit for cutting this guy sooner rather than later. That had to be a tough pill for Al Davis to swallow, but Russell was terrible, and not improving. And the last time I saw him, he looked like he was 300+ lbs.
So, they got rid of a lazy QB unwilling to work at learning the game, taking care of himself, and becoming a first-rate QB. Who gives him a shot?
If I was a GM, I’d sign him for nothing, put him on my practice squad, and put him on a strict diet. If he loses 50 lbs AND learns the playbook, only then I’d give him a shot to make the team.
Stupid lazy (rich) bastard. He’s got what, $45 million in his pocket? I don’t see him getting motivated to do anything but head down to his local BK.
$39 million for 7 wins is what I heard on Mike and Mike this morning…
Last week I saw a little blurb with the headline “Raiders move Campbell to Guard” and it took a few moments of WTF thinking “Russell would have been a much better fit as an OL” before I realized they meant rookie* Bruce* Campbell not Jason.
He’s a bit small for a lineman, I’d think, but if they let him use his chainsaw-hand he could be pretty intimidating.
The fact that you can say this with any sort of optimism whatsoever must mean that Al Davis is finally dead and they’re just propping his body up a la Weekend at Bernie’s. Al Davis hasn’t made a good football decision in over a decade.