Monday, September 10, 2007
Mr. Russel
“Mr. JaMarcus Russell how does it feel being the number one overall pick and playing for the Oakland Raiders?” The fact of the matter is JaMarcus Russell could not possibly answer this question. This is due to JaMarcus Russell not signing a contract because he is holding out for more money. So far one week of the NFL regular season has passed, JaMarcus has still not signed a contract making his hold out one of the longest hold outs by a rookie in recent NFL history since 2002 when Left Tackle Brain McKinnie of the Minnesota Vikings held out for eight weeks. (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=30088250) Everyone on the outside looking in is thinking, “is JaMarcus crazy?” Personally I think he is. JaMarcus is looking to get a reported eight dollars more then second overall pick Calvin Johnson. Even though JaMarcus is negotiating with one of the cheapest and stingiest NFL owners of all-time in Al Davis, JaMarcus does not deserve that much more money. I firmly believe this because Calvin Johnson was by far the best pick in the draft and the only reason JaMaracus went ahead of him was because the Oakland Raiders need a quarterback more. I believe that should be more motivation for JaMarcus to have gotten signed earlier. JaMarcus is now just being selfish when it comes to the money he wants. There is no way he is going to get or is deserving of eight million dollars more then Calvin Johnson. Bottom-line: JaMarcus needs to get his butt onto the sidelines and into the game or he will have missed his shot.
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10 comments:
You make some good points about Russell and how he needs to get out on the field. However I can see it from Jamarcus's point of view as well. All number 1 picks are paid much more than everyone else and he obviously wants more guaranteed money than the Raiders want to give him. What if he gets hurt? He wants the gauranteed money to compensate for this risk. They should just show him the money and get him on the field. The Raiders shouldn't be cheap during this rebuilding period anyway. They need to give the man what he wants so he can get incorporated into the system.
You had a great point that Russel just needs to get on the field because he is behind and is being selfish. I agree with what you said about that. The thing is is that he is Oakland's franchise quarterback so I don't feel like they should start him the 1st 5 weeks anyways. His holdout is still way too long. When a player makes that much money, seriously what is an extra 8 million dollars gonna do? Yeah he got more money by holding out but he lost his chance to start. I dont feel like he should be starting but the Raiders needed him in there so he lost his chance. Now he has to learn the whole offense while others are far ahead.
Kevin I liked what you said about the Raiders not being cheap because it's a rebuilding year and they should just pay him but he wasn't the best pick. I agree with Bloom when I say Calvin was the best pick but the Raiders needed a QB. He is going to make so much money that holding out for this long is mistake because he lost out on a lot of opportunities to play.
In my opinion I think Russel can do whatever he wants at this point. Don't you see? He is holding out because he knows he can get an extra eight million dollars. Who else are the Raiders going pick up in the first week if they don't sign Russel, Charlie Frye? Russel knows the raiders are backed into a corner and they'll eventually sign him for what he wants. So Russel is just going to sit this week out so he can make bank. Plus you can't say that he doesn't deserve eight million dollars more then the second overall pick of the draft. He is a quarterback and a good one. Those are hard to find, receivers come off right and left but another Russel comes rolling around every five years. Can the Raiders wait that long? Hahah hell no. So Russel is just going to wait it out like anyother high profile player and get his extra eight million.
Bloom I agree with you that Russel was being very selfish for his 48 day holdout over a couple more million dollars.I also agree that JaMarcus just wants to say that he makes more money than Calvin who I believe should have been the number 1 overall pick too.This lead to his greediness. The thing of it is now he is too far behind to even think about getting any playing time within the near future. He missed all of training camp, all of preseason,and the first game of the season which for any rookie is valuable time missed, especially when you are the qb.So even if Russel got the money he wanted he actually lost a lot by not being with his teammates and not being in practice to learn the Raider's system. This may cost him his shot of playing qb for the Raiders this season.
Mark, I have to disagree with you. Though you may feel that Calvin Johnson is a better overall player than Jamarcus Russell, this is purely opinion based. Though I feel that these rookie NFL players should undoubtedly be present at training camp, Nick makes a great point above by suggesting ‘why not?’ Why wouldn't Russell want to get all the money he can while he can. He is playing in an industry where tomorrow is as uncertain as the next day, especially when you are just a rookie. Calvin Johnson was fine with jumping into a contract early, but his team was not in the desperate situation at receiver as the Raiders were at quarterback. http://www.nfl.com/teams/oaklandraiders/depthchart?team=OAK & http://www.detroitlions.com/section_display.cfm?section_id=16&top=21&level=2. If you compare these two depth charts, you will realize the Lions drafted Johnson mainly because he was too good to pass up on, not because they need another big time receiver. The Raiders on the other hand, well, their depth chart says it all. So though I think it was selfish of Russell to miss training camp and week one, I don’t think many people would mind missing work for a few weeks to earn an 8 million dollar raise.
Bloom this thing has really got me mad. What Jamarcus Russell did was not only selfish but unfair. I agree full heartily with you about this subject. First of all it’s a joke that hit took this long. As Mark said before Calvin was by far the best player in this draft and he signed and didn't cry about it. Russell got 60 some million dollars and how many snaps has he taken? Exactly. I am not saying he doesn’t deserve the money, but what I am saying is how he did it. Veterans have tough times coming into training camp learning a new system. How do you think a rookie will handle it? How as a person can you see your teammates battling out there and you are sitting on your couch complaining that you aren’t getting an extra million? I am sure that one million is going to change your whole life. The NFL should determine how much each pick should get. Because it has gotten to be such a bad business it is taking away the integrity of the game and how people look at it.
The NFL is a business. Plain and Simple, he just trying to set himself up for life adn personally, I don't blame him. If he has a chance to get that much money, why not go for it? Hardly anyone takes a money cut these days to play on a team, I mean I am sure his first choice for a team was not the Oakland Raiders. I see players taking salary cuts to play for good teams like the Patriots or the Colts but not the Raiders. In a business point of view, he did an amazing job. It's not about who is the best player in the draft when thinking about who should make the most money, it's where they are drafted. It might seem unfair, but oh well, live with it because it's been like that for years, and I don't see it changing
I have to agree when you say that he is being selfish but it doesn't matter what we think because Oakland needs him more then he needs them. If some miracle happens and he actually doesn't end up signing it's not like his career is going to be over. Some other team who can afford him will give him what he wants and that will be the end of it. He is a great quaterback and that's all that matters. How much money he wants and how much money he actually deserves doesn't really matter either because at this point he is going to get what he wants eventually. When Oakland actually does sign Russell they are going to have a great quaterback to build their team around. They won't win the superbowl his first year out because they are going to need more weapons then just him, but having him as a starting point really gives the team a lot of room to work. The whole situation is crazy and we can all agree on that but it just goes to show that not all the players are in it for the love of the game anymore.
I also agree that Russell should have signed his contract a lot earlier. Not only did he lose his chance to start but he wasn't in training camp. From the interviews I hear on T.V. traing camp is one of the most essential parts of the season. Its a chance where teammates come together to build the comrodarey that they need to have a successful season. Jamarcus is now the face of the Raiders and he should act accordingly. Jamarcus was being stingy in negotiating his contract and he and his agent should have worked something out. Even though I do understand that the NFL is a tough job and the risk of injury is high he was still getting an impressive amount of money. He has a lot of catching up to do and he should be kept on the sidelines for a while.
Russell just needs to get on the field any way he can because the Raiders need him to produce like in did in college to have a chance to win games this. Now that he has missed all of training camp he is pretty much lost for the season because he is so far behid learning the offense and building chemistry with his teammates. Al Davis should have bit the bullet and paid Russell the money in the begining to get him into camp so that they had a better chance to win this year.Raiders knew how much Russsell's camp wanted in his contract if they were not willing to pay it they should have drafted another player that they knew they could sign and get into camp on time. Then there would have not been this problem at all.
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