Dollar for Dollar Russell seems a bigger bust than Leaf, but has he had a massive tantrum/outburst in the locker room yet? And he better get working on pulling B&E’s to match Leaf’s post-NFL career.
Well, he did publicly say he didn’t think it was his fault when the Raiders lost horribly because of repeated failures on his part.
I’m a Giants fan too, and I actually agree with you.
The Raider’s defense was very good to begin with, and they were competitive in most of the games Gradkowski started for them. They’re not a great team, but they’re far from bad. In a weak division like the AFC West, I see no reason they couldn’t go 9-7 and make the playoffs, so long as they have a quarterback who isn’t actively undermining them.
Thing is, Al Davis was the one who fell in love with JaMarcus Russell and kept him in the starting lineup. And Al has been the one making all those terrible draft picks.
But this year? The Raiders made some very good draft picks, and dumped Russell. It makes me wonder if someone else in the Raiders front office has pushed Al aside and is now making the decisions?
I definitely liked the trade for Jason Campbell, but I’m a bit hesitant for precisely those reasons. The drawbacks in Washington were no OL, not a great receiver corp, constantly changing coaches… that sounds a lot like Oakland!
The Raiders still have holes, primarily on both lines (DE might be fine, but we need a run-plugging DT… McClain won’t be able to do it on his own) and to a lesser extent, at WR and safety. All those positions minus DT are filled with young guys though, so hopefully someone can step up. And honestly, getting rid of Russell is addition by subtraction. You could just see the team sag whenever he came in (I still don’t know how Russell beat the Broncos after Charlie Frye got injured). Just replacing him with someone of Campbell/Gradkowski’s level should add a few wins.
From PFT:
He probably won’t see the field, but at least he’ll be a great locker room presence. And if he does see the field… even better!
Yeah, I knew about that awhile ago. Bengals insider board and everything. Its super stealthy.
Anyway, if the Bengals do sign him, I hope he works out. He’s got a great arm but by all accounts has no head for the game, isn’t a good leader and is lazy.
The Bengals are really taking on or considering taking on a huge amount of low risk/high reward players.
ETA: HILARIOUS! I’m looking at an ad for giraffe boards, one of our splinter boards at the bottom of the page right now…it says “Giraffe Boards: We have your cat”. I haven’t seen that one, and I can’t help but wonder what keywords in a thread about JaMarcus Russell triggered that one…Bengals?
Russell is a “great locker room presence”? If he brings a couple hundred donuts (one for the Bengals. One for me. Two for the Bengals. Two for me) or builds himself a Barcolounger to relax in during games, maybe.
Yeah, he seems like an exceptional football player and teammate. And I was totally serious about things being better in the event that he sees the field.
He meant “great locker room presence…for the Bengals”.
…as a Cleveland Browns fan.