You mean you would not take him as a camp body?
I would not personally, no. I can respect differing opinions though, but I think you need to consider some of the other aspects first before having such a strong and bold opinion.
Geez you morons, it is June 1st. Roster is 90. We are talking camp bodies who if you don't give them guaranteed money are cutable if they suck.
Several thoughts come to mind, just to give you a different perspective:
1. We have absolutely no real need for a 4th arm at this moment, and if we did it would likely be a developmental QB who has shown progress and a knack towards carrying out a
cerebral offense such as ours.
Anyone who doesn't have the raw intelligence is automatically off the list in terms of actually making it here, and that goes triple for the position of QB. Having physical intangibles means nothing on many positions of this team if you cannot mesh that with sheer intelligence and a propensity to multi-task and think quickly on your feet.
The QB position here is obviously at the very top of the chart for these characteristics, especially in this particular system. That is likely just one of the reasons why we already don't have another developmental QB/camp fodder arm at the moment, although that could change if the right guy comes along.
JaMarcus Russell doesn't seem to have the immediate intelligence factor that one would need to run this kind of system, and my guess is that it would be a futile effort in attempting him to do so. He is the kind of athlete that would be much better off in a system run by other teams, not the pocket presence and defensive reads that are involved here in N.England.
2. We really seriously need to see if/what Ryan Mallett brings to the table at this point in time--if anything at all. I have no thoughts or ideas besides the lower percentage of chances in regards to him being swayed to stay for a 2nd pact, but the possibility may indeed exist, especially if Belichick actually feels that he could potentially be the next QB on this team. Again, I don't want to get into that whole discussion because there is a lot of grey area but the fact remains that we haven't seen enough of Mallett in preseason or actual purpose snaps to this point. If something happens we'd like to have him fairly comfortable with running this complex scheme, so adding another QB would just take away from any additional looks that we'd be seeing.
The same line of thinking could also be said for Kafka, although it is probably not in the same timeframe as it is with Mallett.
3. Just because there is a 90 man roster limit in TC now doesn't mean that Belichick is going to "waste" any space. At the moment we have 2 open spots with one of those needing to be addressed by a backup offensive lineman.
There is also the thought that the roster spot would be automatically wasted anyway, due to the sheer unlikelihood that Russell wouldn't be making the team for many of the reasons listed above.
4. Finally....we get to the attitude, work ethic, weight mgmt, leadership, and off the field concerns for J.Russell. This is a guy who had the world by the *** and decided that he'd rather get fat, lazy, and drink purple cough syrup drinks with codeine in them. Yes, I just typed that. This was a guy who was more interested in drinking "sizzurp" than he was taking care of himself, setting a good example, and being worthy of the #1 overall pick.
We've seen much better players with actual working knowledge of our system here shown the door for their attitudes rubbing off on some of the younger players. I wouldn't want to risk that happening with a player who would instantly gain national media attention for the absolute wrong reasons. That doesn't make any sense to me at all.
We've all made mistakes, myself at the top of the list; but I don't look at JaMarcus Russell even in a "reformed" rule and instantly feel that he's a guy that Bill Belichick actually looks at towards building a team around at the most important position. I doubt Belichick would think twice if he were at a different position, let alone QB.
Just my thoughts though...you may disagree.
