FredFromDartmouth

So anyone care to opine on how this happened? Most of the draft pundits had him rated very highly but now his house is being foreclosed on. Everyone is now going to say that they saw this coming but I won't believe it unless I see the post.

I should note that he did own a full-length fur coat; usually a bad sign (although Ty Law had one he worked out OK). I usually associate full-length fur coats with the type of WR that draftnics love and I (and the Patriots) hate so imagine my surprise when I found out that Jamarcus had such a coat.

As I have said before first round QBs and WRs are highly risky. RBs also these days.

Sciz

It's a lot harder to change character and commitment level than a lot of coaches/GMs think.

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Gunnails

Russell and Ghoulston in my mind are some what similar, both have all the talent needed, just no desire to focus and commit after they got payed.

No eye of the tiger, no nasty, no pride.

Gunnails

Joe Namath rocked a full length fur coat.

FredFromDartmouth

No substance abuse issues there...or public spectacles

jmt57

JaMarcus Russell was a guy people rated highly because of the success of his college team, LSU, and Russell's performance against a relatively subpar opponent (Notre Dame) in the Sugar Bowl. On top of that he was 6-5 and did have a strong arm. Comparisons to the next best QB (Brady Quinn) made him look even better. So for average fans (and the Raiders) it made sense to draft him first. For those that scratched the surface his mechanics weren't that great. He had a slow delivery and often threw off his back foot. His decision making was mediocre and he threw into coverage far too often; something he got away with in college but not in the NFL.

As far as the work ethic thing I do recall a couple reports of that being an issue before he was drafted but it's a bit difficult to do an internet search finding those articles now, since so very much has been written about him since. I did find at least one though, so it's not as if there was not anybody questioning Russell's work ethic prior to his being drafted:

JaMarcus Russell wants to be NFL's No. 1 priority - USATODAY.com - 2/25/2007

I seem to recall one of the big names (Mayock?) bringing up his work habits but can't swear to it. More than one report of him being last guy to arrive/ first to leave got swept under the rug by most because of his physical abilities and highlight reels.

Russell was in the right place/right time. Raiders picking first and you know how Al Davis loves that vertical passing game; Russell is a guy who can throw the ball sixty yards from one knee. On top of that it was a relatively poor QB class - the other QB's were Brady Quinn, Kevin Kolb, Trent Edwards, John Beck, Drew Stanton, Tyler Thigpen, etc.; they just made Russell look even better. Throw in Quinn having a bad bowl game head to head against Russell having a good game and the divide grows larger. And don't forget Russell had some pretty good receivers in college (Dwayne Bowe, Early Doucet, Brandon LaFell), which helped him out too.

IcyPatriot

Sure did and he got lots of side action wearing that uniform.

FredFromDartmouth

Ah but was it mink or fox fur or racoon? Racoon seems not as bad (esp. with a racoon hat); sort of an Ivy league college fan uniform from a bygone era. Mink is bad and fox is really bad.

I seem to remember that he wore racoon or faux fur....wait I checked and saw him in two different furs including what looked like fox on the sidelines. From Wikipedia: "He originated the fad of wearing a full-length fur coat on the sidelines, a habit which was adopted by many players after him. The NFL [No Fun League] has since outlawed this..."



Joe:


And in faux fur:

upstater1

Do we know that JaMarcus has money problems?

A lot of rich people with plenty of money are deciding to take the credit hit rather than pay mortgages on houses whose value is underwater.

They're rich, what do they care about bad credit?

West Philly Patriot

Let's place the blame exactly where it belongs..... On da purple drank!!

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"Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost." -Martina Navratilova