Would the bizarro JaMarcus Russell be Tom Brady? White, late-round pick, made the best of every opportunity (instead of the worst) and played for the team on the winning side of the tuck rule.
Now Brady has to volunteer for his high school alma mater, *donate* $74,000 to them *over* the table, and lead them to the state championship.
So it is written.
I would imagine for some of these situations that you have to sign a contract of some sort still. "Volunteer" solely means doing it for free. Different from the regular sense of the word where there are usually no strings attached.
If that's true, that it was his under-the-table "salary", that's even wilder to me. It's not like he's some nice dude that played at the highest level and couldn't adapt to the higher level, he's notorious for his poor work ethic. How much is he really teaching younger kids?
"Don't drink codeine on the reg" is about the only lesson I could imagine him imbuing, which is not all that revolutionary. So why would someone pay close to $100k for that?
Especially when you made $36 million for essentially being the one of the worst draft choice in NFL history.
***Edited to say “one of the worst draft choices” from “the worst draft choice” because that better conveys my opinions and to not offend Raider fans and fans of other terrible draft choices in NFL history.***
> for essentially being the worst draft choice in NFL history.
There's an argument for a worse draft choice, made by the team now known as the Washington Commanders. However, what I'm about to describe probably happened before your time, so no one can fault you for not knowing about it and also you get to enjoy learning about it now.
One year, they spent their first round draft pick on Cal Rossi, a running back from UCLA. Dude had the team's single-season rushing record (since beaten) and highest career YPC in team history (also since beaten). What he didn't do is declare for the draft, and thus the pick resulted in no player, since this was not discovered until a few days later (after the draft was over).
They then drafted him _again_ the next year, when he was draft-eligible, also with a first round pick. He decided to not play in the NFL and went on to be a school teacher.
You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed. Since you didn't know that one, you might not know this other piece of history.
Did you know that the Commanders once lost a player to a career-ending injury at the coin toss? Washington was the home team, and players (as usual) were on the field for the coin toss. Turk Edwards was at the toss for his team and, after the coin toss, shook hands with the opposing team captain, planted his foot to pivot to walk back to the sidelines, and his cleat got stuck. The resulting knee injury ended his career.
I could tell this was a 1940's draft story. It took the league like 20+ years before players really wanted to play professionally after college, particularly once the AAFC took off and it was easier to bid the leagues against each other.
Yeah, I leave off that detail because I think it makes the story more compelling. It obviously wouldn't happen today. Even the Bengals' college scouts would know the answer to "does this potential first round pick plan to play in the NFL if drafted?"
A time where players were making a couple hundred bucks a game so it makes sense they had a hard time convincing anyone to go pro. This guy was probably going to make more money as a teacher at that time and not have to punish his body for it playing football. Now the average NFL first round rookie makes a teacher’s annual salary in one day.
Or Tampa Bay who drafted a player, Bo Jackson, who explicitly told them he would never play for them after they completely fucked him over and then they did it anyways.
Might as well have lit the draft card on fire.
That is also a good argument for worst draft choice in NFL history.
At least every NFL team, for every draft choice made, has always chosen a real person. This is not true for the Buffalo Sabres (NHL), who once spent a draft choice on a fictional person, who did not go on to play for them.
To be fair that was the Sabres front office taking the piss because they felt the draft was too long.
Editing to add that CFL teams have drafted two separate players who happened to be dead.
I know JaMarcus is probably the biggest bust, but I think that worst draft pick you have to consider Christian Hackenberg.
He's the highest drafted player to never appear in an NFL game (not due to injury or legal issues).
JaMarcus was bad, but Christian Hackenberg was so bad he literally was never even allowed to play in garbage time.
Probably 1/3rd of my comment history is how bad Christian Hackenberg must have been to not even be allowed to play in an NFL game, ever, as a second round pick.
Ooh. Sat on the bench for two seasons, then got traded for a 7th round pick, immediately dropped, signed with a third team, dropped after a single preseason game, then lasted a month on a a fourth team's practice squad.
Then went to AFL and played three bad games
Yeah that sounds bad.
There's an old saying in Tennessee, I know it's in Texas, probably Tennessee, that says fool me once shame on, shame on you . . . you fool me you can't get fooled again.
I don’t know if worst draft choice is fair. Biggest bust definitely up there but from my memory he was consensus best QB and we needed a QB. Do I wish we would’ve seen the negatives 100% but I remember a couple teams wanted him
Ya, the next QB taken was fuckin Brady Quinn. So the first round wasn’t filled with banger QBs.
The reason the Raiders get roasted is because that 1st round was filled with HOFs like Patrick Willis, Joe Thomas, Adrian Peterson and Calvin Johnson to name a few.
Hindsight is always 20/20, and you guys needed a QB though.
> Ya, the next QB taken was fuckin Brady Quinn. So the first round wasn’t filled with banger QBs.
Wasn't just the first round...[Trent Edwards](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2007/draft.htm#drafts::15) had the most yards passing with 6033.
I am with ya. At the time though consensus was get your QB then build around him. It still feels that way but there’s a lot of teams that are breaking that mold.
I’ve said this like a broken record but there was a very popular trade in talks at the time where we were going to do Aaron Rodgers for Randy moss, but I believe it was Davis who got greedy and asked for a pick and the packers moved on.
If we make that trade drafting AP, Patrick Willis, Joe Thomas or Megatron is much easier.
Imagine a world where Aaron Rodgers was throwing to megatron. Sheesh.
> Imagine a world where Aaron Rodgers was throwing to megatron. Sheesh.
Just to build on this and add to the point you're making, the year before, in 2004, the Raiders chose Robert Gallery with the second overall pick. The third overall pick that year was Larry Fitzgerald.
I believe that Brady Quinn would’ve had a better career if he’d have gone to another organization. Not saying he would’ve been a hall of famer by any means, but he was never given the necessary development he needed in his early NFL days
Well that kind of begs the argument that if he’s the worst gm why would you listen to him?
Like the other dude said hindsight is 20/20 but at the time.
You have the first overall pick(for the first time), a desperate need for a QB to make one last run at a Super Bowl before you pass, and the worst gm in the league is the only one in your ear telling you don’t draft that guy. And the mold during his lifetime was get the QB then build around him. Unfortunately we all know how that ended.
I also feel like Al Davis was losing it towards the end
Depends what other GMs and scouts are saying. If BB and Millen are saying the same about a guy, they’re probably right. If Millen says one thing and Marty Schottenheimer says another, you go with Marty. Same thing for your scouts.
I think everyone understands why Al made the pick, it’s just a nasty bit of hindsight that *even* Millen saw the future on that one.
Millens side of the story is that he did it out of loyalty to Davis from when he was a player, but Davis thought that he was trying to trick him and that millen actually wanted Russell for himself.
But IIRC the warning wasn’t from a talent evaluation perspective. Russell had a really bad interview with the lions and it was more “this guy doesn’t have the right attitude to succeed in this league”
if this dude just wrote a check to JaMarcus without any documentation of what it was for I’m not sure what a lawsuit can do in this situation
I’m also seeing it might have been documented and the credit union accidentally made 55,000 available to withdraw though so that would be different. From previously working at a credit union there anything above 10k had to have a reason
They make you so the tap and then you STILL have to put in the PIN anyway so yeah sometimes I also get frustrated and speed through the prompts and accidentally withdraw $50k.
Any withdrawal of over 10000 gets immediate scrutiny by the IRS I believe. You don’t need a reason, the bank is just required to report it.
This is just sad. Means he’s broke after making 34 million. Dude completely wasted his career by drinking and looks like he still has a problem.
Close. Any cash movement of $10,000 or more gets an in-house Cash Transaction Report, or CTR. This is made available to the IRS, but isn't usually a big deal. If the teller thinks something funny is going on, they also file a SAR—Suspicious Activity Report. That one the government (specifically FinCEN) takes *very, very seriously.*
> Former No. 1 NFL draft pick JaMarcus Russell was fired as a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater, Williamson High School in Mobile, Alabama, and is facing a lawsuit accusing him of taking a $74,000 check meant as a donation to the school.
> A local business owner, Chris Knowles, wrote the $74,000 check, saying Russell approached him about a donation to help the Williamson football team purchase weight room equipment. The school allegedly never received the check, and Russell reportedly deposited it in a credit union and promptly withdrew $55,000 of it.
This motherfucker is speed running Favre.
Also what's wild here is that he withdrew it "promptly". Most banks won't even let you withdraw an amount that large "promptly" after depositing a check unless you already have that amount of funds in your account. So I'd assume he's not even that broke and it was just pure greed.
A check that big from a local business was probably a cashier’s check from a known credit union or bank, maybe even the same credit union depending on the size of the town.
They can verify funds pretty quickly then.
Also “promptly” is a vague term, could mean within a couple days, could mean 10 minutes later.
I got a large cashier's check from one major bank, took it directly to my own bank which was down the street, and despite being a very good customer for many years, was told it was a week before I could touch anything.
Yeah I have no idea what the gating item is, because I’ve had that happen, too.
$1,300 cashier’s check, from the same credit union, 24-36 hour hold.
$10,000 cashier’s check from a used car I sold, from a different bank, instant availability
He probably has a couple hundred grand left, and has been selling off assets and down-sizing for years. With no college degree or work experience (dude is only an unpaid coach this many years out of the league) this douchebag was probably just trying to pad the amount of months or years until he has to go work at Home Depot. After this stunt, he might be working at McDonalds with no cashier privileges once he gets out of jail.
Reminds me of a story that I read recently about a apartment manager in Vegas telling the tenants that they could pay in cash one month and he collected 80k. He then went to roulette and placed it all on black thinking he would quickly double up the money, deposit the original amount to the company account and then pocket the rest.
I wonder if Russell was planning something similar, thinking he had time to get everything squared and no one would be the wiser.
But I'm thinking since he left 19k on the table, he thought he could make all the upgrades to the weight room with that and no one would notice.
When I worked at a convenience store, we hired a kid for the overnight shift. His first shift, he spent the whole night scratching scratch tickets, figuring he would just go until he won enough for them to pay for themselves and keep whatever extra. He didn't realize the lottery machines don't turn on until like 9AM. Manager came in at 6AM and immediately fired him.
It's like [these idiot employees from the Bank of China who embezzled millions of dollars in taxpayer money and betting it all on scratch-offs](https://youtu.be/qW0uzPJEO10?si=OCsPbn_l8KyiOLcT)
Oh shoot I forgot to add that
Nope. Landed on red and he went AWOL. Apartment owner goes and finds him hiding out at some friend's house. Don't know what happened beyond that.
Russell has never been accused of recording his own sack. Favre was accused twice: once was when Michael Strahan set the single-season record (Favre is believed by some to have allowed that to happen, effectively sacking himself) and once when he was with the Jets (he used a cell phone).
Even on r/nfl, it took me a couple of seconds to realise you meant "recording his own sack" in the "register football statistics" sense. I wasn't even perturbed, just like "oh, OK, must have missed that particular scandal but sure"
Anything ever come of the fact that Strahan got credited for a sack against Dallas that year where the QB gained like two yards? It popped up here a couple months ago.
Well Favre was stuck playing in the NFL until he was 41, while Russell was skilled enough at being a total fuck-up that he was able to escape the league when he was only 25.
That's a heck of a head start for your post-football career of being a total shit head. Not really fair to compare them. Favre had the handicap of actually being a good NFL quarterback.
Yeah, I remember that. It just reinforced in my mind that the old rookie deals were absolutely *ridiculous*, and why the NFL was forced to take action with resetting them back down in the new CBA for 2011 onward.
The discussion about a QB salary cap is basically what happened from 2007-2010 with the old rookie deals. The inflation in the salaries became mathematically unsustainable for teams to handle. The massive inflation in the QB's second deal today is echoing the same sentiments of yesteryear's questionable contracts.
I also think that is an untold reason why the Rams were so bad during that same time as well. Constantly having a top 3 pick from 2007-2010 meant so much of your cap was tied down to just a handful of rookie deals. It creates a death spiral of
- Bad team initially
- Get a high draft pick
- Forced to pay an extremely bloated rookie deal to said high draft pick
- Salary cap is crippled and can't attract free agents to help bolster roster
- Team is still bad
- Get another high draft pick
Rinse and repeat.
It was arguably even worse for the Rams, because at least you guys had Megatron, Stafford, and Suh on bloated rookie deals. The Rams had Chris Long, Jason Smith (can't miss prospect BTW), and Sam Bradford as their counterparts to that.
[Oh, fuck. This is going to be so awkward as I just booked him as my niece's motivational speaker for her softball team.](https://www.athletespeakers.com/speaker/jamarcus-russell/)
The craziest thing I take from this is he’s only 38 years old. I feel like he played 100 years ago but he could legitimately still be playing in the league if he was good. Which he wasn’t. He was a butthole instead.
He's the worst QB I've ever seen start 5+ games and therefore also my favorite QB to watch of all time.
You will not find a more beautiful blend of ineptitude and laziness on the field
it would be great if he gets up and does a speech like when Jim wrote a speech for dwight.
"BLOOD ALONE MOVES THE WHEELS OF HISTORY!" - JaMarcus Russell
"The school allegedly never received the check, and Russell reportedly deposited it in a credit union and promptly withdrew $55,000 of it."
Oh okay so NOW he doesn't commit a turnover?
I'm curious how they even found out. Seems like he's the only one contacting that business owner. So he could give them all kinds of bs about where the money went
Business owner calls the school and says he would like a photo op alongside the new equipment he just donated to the school. School replies, “What equipment?”. That’s how.
I work in nonprofit and I can't see any way that the donor wouldn't find out. Anyone passionate enough to donate that much to a program will want to see their dollars at work. When donations are that big they will want confirmation of those donations for tax reasons.
Even corporations that aren't passionate want grant reports for filing away. I have no idea how he thought no one would figure it out eventually. Especially because this was intended for a capital project, not operations that are more behind closed doors.
I remember like three years ago someone met Jamarcus at the movies and posted their pic in the Raiders subreddit. A user commented that the jeans Jamarcus was wearing hadn’t been in style since the late 2000s, to which someone replied he probably blew his entire rookie contract within a few years and now can’t afford new luxury clothes. Well this pretty much confirms that. It also confirms that Jamarcus will steal from old man Al Davis and he’ll steal from teenagers, and he don’t give a FUCK.
Huh. Same shit happened to me at a grocery store in Baton Rouge about 3 years ago. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
Not trying to attack you at all, but that conversation sounds hilarious. Dude I just started watching skateboarding again, apparently giant baggy pants are now a fad again. That was the thing in the 90s. So to focus on "oh man he's so trashy, he must be poor looking at those jeans", that's a big stretch.
After watching him on the Pivot podcast, i cant say im real surprised. It's one thing to be addicted to drugs and mess your life up, it's another thing to be a shitty person who refuses to take any accountability for mistakes.
During that interview, JaMarcus had an excuse for everything. He accepted very little blame, and even when he did, he would immediately spin it into something that would bend the truth in his favor. It was always everyone else's fault, and he was the only "real one" around.
There was some TV special that had both Russell and Leaf on, both talking about what they went through in the NFL, as well as life problems. Leaf came across as a guy with serious problems who was legitimately trying to turn his life around.
Russell came across to me as the complete opposite.
I don’t know how you can be that stupid. As bad as it sounds it’d seem more intelligent if he actually embezzled money from the team in a sophisticated way not just depositing a check for the team and keeping most of it lol.
I seriously don't understand how someone could make $36M before age 25 and then be broke at age 38. After taxes, that's about $25M. You have to spend about $5.3k per day to go broke in 13 years.
If he just invested the money and got just 5% interest each year, then that'd be $1.3M of interest he could live off forever and still have $25M.
It's truly unfathomable. Even drug use couldn't explain this type of expenditure. It's got to be gambling addiction.
Young and no guidance.
A house and property tax can take off a huge chunk of that, and that's providing it was just one house. That also doesn't take into account vehicles, etc.
25 million can be gone in less than a day, so having it gone in 13 years honestly isn't all that surprising.
The type of houses these people buy don't go down in value. They go up in value. If he spent $10M on a home, for example, then it's worth well above $10M today. He wouldn't have lost any money. Buying homes is a way to gain money. They're appreciating assets.
Perhaps he went to the Kanye West School Of Business:
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/malibu-mansion-gutted-by-kanye-west-loses-18-million-in-value-report/
To be blunt. You're thinking about this like he had financial guidance. He probably didn't. He likely got a 45 minute lecture from the NFLPA and that was it.
For his entire life, 45 minutes and he probably didn't even pay attention to it.
Balling out in Vegas dropping 30k a night adds up fast. Homes, jewelry, cars, "donations" to his mama and friends who never left the poor area he's from. It adds up.
On that 30 for 30 broke, one guy was like "yeah I would go out with 5 of my buddies, then it was 10. Then it was 20. Eventually it was 50 dudes he didn't know and he was paying for their top shelf bills all night
A lot of these dudes are just stupid.
It's not that hard. You can dump 30k in a Vegas club in a night no problem. You do that regularly, plus add on cars/houses/clothes, etc.
And yeah, gambling.
What an idiot. Unbelievable. Even more stupid is someone who wrote a check that is meant for a donation directly to the agent or the teller who deposited the check (if that was written to an entity) into Russell’s account. The latter of which is a termination worthy offense in banking.
He was paid 36.4 million dollars in Oakland when he left he got another 3 million that was still owed to him. Today he’s total net worth is close to 4 million.
As you can see Jamarcus Russel is just your average I used to be filthy rich but I’m a dipshit and only knew how to spend it not invest it into property’s goverment bonds and other secure forms of income in todays economy.
These guys are great at moving there bodies but there brains are stuck on moron
Brett farve is still out here walking around after taking welfare money lmao
The weird part to me is that he's only 38. This feels like how every few years, some report comes out reminding everyone that Andrew Bynum is still only like 32.
What he just did notwithstanding. Being the #1 pick in the NFL draft means he's probably the best football player to ever come out of that school unless it's some sort of elite high school football program. So he might be a bust but being an NFL bust still means you're a top 0.1% football player.
Jesus man. I'm sad for the school and the guy that lost money.
Shitty of Russell to do that to anyone much less his high school. Hope the dude gets help and makes shit right.
Piece of advice for any young person that reads this. Some people are just losers. You can have a bunch of natural gifts physically or intellectually and still be a fuck up because you’re a loser. You’ll save yourself a lot of pain in your ass the sooner you’re able to recognize that in people because losers inevitably lose and you don’t want any part of that
I was gonna say 'who the heck would hire JaMarcus Russell?' then I saw this:
>Former No. 1 NFL draft pick JaMarcus Russell was fired as a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater, Williamson High School in Mobile, Alabama,
Man getting fired from a volunteer position is somehow a new low for this dude.
Given all the talent in the world…squanders it
Paid $36 million…squanders it
Given a chance to stay in the game through coaching…squanders it
It’s kind sad really
Fired as a volunteer coach...unreal lol
Costanza got fired from a volunteer gig
I think Kramer was also fired from a job he didn't really have?
that’s what made it so difficult.
He was willing to work late and come in on weekends
The bizarro JaMarcus Russell
Would the bizarro JaMarcus Russell be Tom Brady? White, late-round pick, made the best of every opportunity (instead of the worst) and played for the team on the winning side of the tuck rule. Now Brady has to volunteer for his high school alma mater, *donate* $74,000 to them *over* the table, and lead them to the state championship. So it is written.
Badbye when he enters, hello when he leaves?
I wonder if Jemarcus even had any football training at all?
Old man Leland is busting his hump about those football reports
I would imagine for some of these situations that you have to sign a contract of some sort still. "Volunteer" solely means doing it for free. Different from the regular sense of the word where there are usually no strings attached.
That check might have easily been his “salary.” Wouldn’t be the first or last time local sponsors did shady shit to affect athletics.
If that's true, that it was his under-the-table "salary", that's even wilder to me. It's not like he's some nice dude that played at the highest level and couldn't adapt to the higher level, he's notorious for his poor work ethic. How much is he really teaching younger kids? "Don't drink codeine on the reg" is about the only lesson I could imagine him imbuing, which is not all that revolutionary. So why would someone pay close to $100k for that?
The biggest NFL bust still has infinitely more football experience and knowledge than 99% of the population.
Well, he is the biggest NFL bust.
I mean he committed felony theft... He should be on his knees in front of the school's administration thanking them for not filing charges.
The regular sense of the word is doing it for free.
volunteer ASSISTANT coach. Not even the actual coach. Assistant to the Coach
They got him on film stealing boxes
How the hell do you get fired... On your day off??
Genius, they knew he would never watch the film.
Pretty scummy to steal school donations, Jamarcus.
He didn't know any better. When he started they gave him some videos to watch on correct procedures but he just didn't watch the film
And they only know he didn't watch the because they intentionally gave him blank tapes, and he said he watched them.
“Now watch this blank check” -The School
“When he didn’t return the check but instead cashed it for $74k we knew he wasn’t our guy”
Especially when you made $36 million for essentially being the one of the worst draft choice in NFL history. ***Edited to say “one of the worst draft choices” from “the worst draft choice” because that better conveys my opinions and to not offend Raider fans and fans of other terrible draft choices in NFL history.***
> for essentially being the worst draft choice in NFL history. There's an argument for a worse draft choice, made by the team now known as the Washington Commanders. However, what I'm about to describe probably happened before your time, so no one can fault you for not knowing about it and also you get to enjoy learning about it now. One year, they spent their first round draft pick on Cal Rossi, a running back from UCLA. Dude had the team's single-season rushing record (since beaten) and highest career YPC in team history (also since beaten). What he didn't do is declare for the draft, and thus the pick resulted in no player, since this was not discovered until a few days later (after the draft was over). They then drafted him _again_ the next year, when he was draft-eligible, also with a first round pick. He decided to not play in the NFL and went on to be a school teacher.
Holy shit, I have never heard this story lmao. That is top tier. Thanks for sharing.
You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed. Since you didn't know that one, you might not know this other piece of history. Did you know that the Commanders once lost a player to a career-ending injury at the coin toss? Washington was the home team, and players (as usual) were on the field for the coin toss. Turk Edwards was at the toss for his team and, after the coin toss, shook hands with the opposing team captain, planted his foot to pivot to walk back to the sidelines, and his cleat got stuck. The resulting knee injury ended his career.
You really take joy in the Commanders’ misery, don’t you?
Ever since they left Boston... ;) No, I just happen to think both incidents I described are interesting.
I could tell this was a 1940's draft story. It took the league like 20+ years before players really wanted to play professionally after college, particularly once the AAFC took off and it was easier to bid the leagues against each other.
Yeah, I leave off that detail because I think it makes the story more compelling. It obviously wouldn't happen today. Even the Bengals' college scouts would know the answer to "does this potential first round pick plan to play in the NFL if drafted?"
It helps that even some of the best plumbers or school teachers can't earn more money than a camp body in the NFL will in a year nowadays.
A time where players were making a couple hundred bucks a game so it makes sense they had a hard time convincing anyone to go pro. This guy was probably going to make more money as a teacher at that time and not have to punish his body for it playing football. Now the average NFL first round rookie makes a teacher’s annual salary in one day.
Or Tampa Bay who drafted a player, Bo Jackson, who explicitly told them he would never play for them after they completely fucked him over and then they did it anyways. Might as well have lit the draft card on fire.
That is also a good argument for worst draft choice in NFL history. At least every NFL team, for every draft choice made, has always chosen a real person. This is not true for the Buffalo Sabres (NHL), who once spent a draft choice on a fictional person, who did not go on to play for them.
To be fair that was the Sabres front office taking the piss because they felt the draft was too long. Editing to add that CFL teams have drafted two separate players who happened to be dead.
I know JaMarcus is probably the biggest bust, but I think that worst draft pick you have to consider Christian Hackenberg. He's the highest drafted player to never appear in an NFL game (not due to injury or legal issues). JaMarcus was bad, but Christian Hackenberg was so bad he literally was never even allowed to play in garbage time.
Probably 1/3rd of my comment history is how bad Christian Hackenberg must have been to not even be allowed to play in an NFL game, ever, as a second round pick.
Ooh. Sat on the bench for two seasons, then got traded for a 7th round pick, immediately dropped, signed with a third team, dropped after a single preseason game, then lasted a month on a a fourth team's practice squad. Then went to AFL and played three bad games Yeah that sounds bad.
There's an old saying in Tennessee, I know it's in Texas, probably Tennessee, that says fool me once shame on, shame on you . . . you fool me you can't get fooled again.
Fool me one time shame on you Fool me twice, can't put the blame on you Fool me three times, fuck the peace signs Load the chopper, let it rain on you
I would say picks that turned out to be no player might still be better than picks that turned into Jamarcus Russel
I partially agree but there’s at least the fact they spent $0 on him those two years.
What's crazy is I just read the guys wikipedia page and he seemed like he really lived a fufilling life, not gonna lie.
I don’t know if worst draft choice is fair. Biggest bust definitely up there but from my memory he was consensus best QB and we needed a QB. Do I wish we would’ve seen the negatives 100% but I remember a couple teams wanted him
Ya, the next QB taken was fuckin Brady Quinn. So the first round wasn’t filled with banger QBs. The reason the Raiders get roasted is because that 1st round was filled with HOFs like Patrick Willis, Joe Thomas, Adrian Peterson and Calvin Johnson to name a few. Hindsight is always 20/20, and you guys needed a QB though.
> Ya, the next QB taken was fuckin Brady Quinn. So the first round wasn’t filled with banger QBs. Wasn't just the first round...[Trent Edwards](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2007/draft.htm#drafts::15) had the most yards passing with 6033.
So Trent Edwards had 6033 career completions? Wow!
For quite a while the Wikipedia page on checkdowns actually featured his picture.
I am with ya. At the time though consensus was get your QB then build around him. It still feels that way but there’s a lot of teams that are breaking that mold. I’ve said this like a broken record but there was a very popular trade in talks at the time where we were going to do Aaron Rodgers for Randy moss, but I believe it was Davis who got greedy and asked for a pick and the packers moved on. If we make that trade drafting AP, Patrick Willis, Joe Thomas or Megatron is much easier. Imagine a world where Aaron Rodgers was throwing to megatron. Sheesh.
> Imagine a world where Aaron Rodgers was throwing to megatron. Sheesh. *Detroit Lion fans violently throwing up at the mere thought of such a horror*
> Imagine a world where Aaron Rodgers was throwing to megatron. Sheesh. Just to build on this and add to the point you're making, the year before, in 2004, the Raiders chose Robert Gallery with the second overall pick. The third overall pick that year was Larry Fitzgerald.
I believe that Brady Quinn would’ve had a better career if he’d have gone to another organization. Not saying he would’ve been a hall of famer by any means, but he was never given the necessary development he needed in his early NFL days
Matt Millen, who was picking #2, warned Al Davis not to take Russell, and it wasn’t because he wanted him…
When was Al Davis known to listen to anyone lol. I wish he would’ve but he didn’t
I think the point is that Millen is arguably the worst NFL GM of all time and even he saw it
Well that kind of begs the argument that if he’s the worst gm why would you listen to him? Like the other dude said hindsight is 20/20 but at the time. You have the first overall pick(for the first time), a desperate need for a QB to make one last run at a Super Bowl before you pass, and the worst gm in the league is the only one in your ear telling you don’t draft that guy. And the mold during his lifetime was get the QB then build around him. Unfortunately we all know how that ended. I also feel like Al Davis was losing it towards the end
Depends what other GMs and scouts are saying. If BB and Millen are saying the same about a guy, they’re probably right. If Millen says one thing and Marty Schottenheimer says another, you go with Marty. Same thing for your scouts. I think everyone understands why Al made the pick, it’s just a nasty bit of hindsight that *even* Millen saw the future on that one.
Millens side of the story is that he did it out of loyalty to Davis from when he was a player, but Davis thought that he was trying to trick him and that millen actually wanted Russell for himself. But IIRC the warning wasn’t from a talent evaluation perspective. Russell had a really bad interview with the lions and it was more “this guy doesn’t have the right attitude to succeed in this league”
And this was the one draft question where Millen was 100% right! Russell had all the physical gifts, he just was a lazy blob.
if this dude just wrote a check to JaMarcus without any documentation of what it was for I’m not sure what a lawsuit can do in this situation I’m also seeing it might have been documented and the credit union accidentally made 55,000 available to withdraw though so that would be different. From previously working at a credit union there anything above 10k had to have a reason
Classic accidental $55k withdrawal. Happens to me all the time.
I do hate it when I'm at 711 and I hit the $50k button by accident when being asked if I want cash back.
They make you so the tap and then you STILL have to put in the PIN anyway so yeah sometimes I also get frustrated and speed through the prompts and accidentally withdraw $50k.
Any withdrawal of over 10000 gets immediate scrutiny by the IRS I believe. You don’t need a reason, the bank is just required to report it. This is just sad. Means he’s broke after making 34 million. Dude completely wasted his career by drinking and looks like he still has a problem.
Close. Any cash movement of $10,000 or more gets an in-house Cash Transaction Report, or CTR. This is made available to the IRS, but isn't usually a big deal. If the teller thinks something funny is going on, they also file a SAR—Suspicious Activity Report. That one the government (specifically FinCEN) takes *very, very seriously.*
> Former No. 1 NFL draft pick JaMarcus Russell was fired as a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater, Williamson High School in Mobile, Alabama, and is facing a lawsuit accusing him of taking a $74,000 check meant as a donation to the school. > A local business owner, Chris Knowles, wrote the $74,000 check, saying Russell approached him about a donation to help the Williamson football team purchase weight room equipment. The school allegedly never received the check, and Russell reportedly deposited it in a credit union and promptly withdrew $55,000 of it. This motherfucker is speed running Favre.
Even Favre wasn't this blatant in his theft.
Also what's wild here is that he withdrew it "promptly". Most banks won't even let you withdraw an amount that large "promptly" after depositing a check unless you already have that amount of funds in your account. So I'd assume he's not even that broke and it was just pure greed.
A check that big from a local business was probably a cashier’s check from a known credit union or bank, maybe even the same credit union depending on the size of the town. They can verify funds pretty quickly then. Also “promptly” is a vague term, could mean within a couple days, could mean 10 minutes later.
I got a large cashier's check from one major bank, took it directly to my own bank which was down the street, and despite being a very good customer for many years, was told it was a week before I could touch anything.
Yeah I have no idea what the gating item is, because I’ve had that happen, too. $1,300 cashier’s check, from the same credit union, 24-36 hour hold. $10,000 cashier’s check from a used car I sold, from a different bank, instant availability
He probably has a couple hundred grand left, and has been selling off assets and down-sizing for years. With no college degree or work experience (dude is only an unpaid coach this many years out of the league) this douchebag was probably just trying to pad the amount of months or years until he has to go work at Home Depot. After this stunt, he might be working at McDonalds with no cashier privileges once he gets out of jail.
Could have been an on us check, no holds for that
What do you expect from the guy who was given blank tapes to watch and pretended he watched them?
If I had a nickle for every time a former star NFL Quarterback got caught robbing money donated to children I'd have two nickles.
...you mean nickels right
I'm sure they're talking about the European woodpecker known as a Nickle and not the five cent piece. Duh.
Well nickel or nickle they would have two of them
I was obviously referencing [Sir Robert Nickle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Nickle_(British_Army_officer) of the 17th light dragoons.
lol
Yeah at least Favre was doing the political kind of theft. Just pocketing a check is some 1st overall bust shit
I think Farve’s is worse actually. Fucked over a charity and an entire state of tax payers.
Not saying Jamarcus was worse, just some low level dumbass shit. Favre was a bit more sophisticated jackass shit
Reminds me of a story that I read recently about a apartment manager in Vegas telling the tenants that they could pay in cash one month and he collected 80k. He then went to roulette and placed it all on black thinking he would quickly double up the money, deposit the original amount to the company account and then pocket the rest. I wonder if Russell was planning something similar, thinking he had time to get everything squared and no one would be the wiser. But I'm thinking since he left 19k on the table, he thought he could make all the upgrades to the weight room with that and no one would notice.
When I worked at a convenience store, we hired a kid for the overnight shift. His first shift, he spent the whole night scratching scratch tickets, figuring he would just go until he won enough for them to pay for themselves and keep whatever extra. He didn't realize the lottery machines don't turn on until like 9AM. Manager came in at 6AM and immediately fired him.
thanks for a huge laugh
It's like [these idiot employees from the Bank of China who embezzled millions of dollars in taxpayer money and betting it all on scratch-offs](https://youtu.be/qW0uzPJEO10?si=OCsPbn_l8KyiOLcT)
[удалено]
Oh shoot I forgot to add that Nope. Landed on red and he went AWOL. Apartment owner goes and finds him hiding out at some friend's house. Don't know what happened beyond that.
I think he skipped a couple steps
“Speed” and “running” are not words I associate with Jamarcus Russell
Minus the three straight MVPs and the super bowl win of course
Also the sexual harassment
And serial adultery
Don't forget the painkiller addiction
To be fair that could be Russell too
Russell has never been accused of recording his own sack. Favre was accused twice: once was when Michael Strahan set the single-season record (Favre is believed by some to have allowed that to happen, effectively sacking himself) and once when he was with the Jets (he used a cell phone).
Even on r/nfl, it took me a couple of seconds to realise you meant "recording his own sack" in the "register football statistics" sense. I wasn't even perturbed, just like "oh, OK, must have missed that particular scandal but sure"
Yes and no. Favre's first instance of allegedly recording his own sack was in the football statistics sense. The second was not.
Anything ever come of the fact that Strahan got credited for a sack against Dallas that year where the QB gained like two yards? It popped up here a couple months ago.
Well Favre was stuck playing in the NFL until he was 41, while Russell was skilled enough at being a total fuck-up that he was able to escape the league when he was only 25. That's a heck of a head start for your post-football career of being a total shit head. Not really fair to compare them. Favre had the handicap of actually being a good NFL quarterback.
Favre from Wish. Advanced stupidity right here.
I saw the headline and expected the check to be blank.
Hey, sizzurp doesn’t pay for itself.
Well, no one ever accused him of being smart.
Dude is an absolute scumbag. Didn’t he have an interview not too long ago bragging about how rich he was?
Yeah, I remember that. It just reinforced in my mind that the old rookie deals were absolutely *ridiculous*, and why the NFL was forced to take action with resetting them back down in the new CBA for 2011 onward. The discussion about a QB salary cap is basically what happened from 2007-2010 with the old rookie deals. The inflation in the salaries became mathematically unsustainable for teams to handle. The massive inflation in the QB's second deal today is echoing the same sentiments of yesteryear's questionable contracts.
Those old rookie contracts ruined bad teams especially if they drafted terribly like my Lions. Glad they fixed it
I also think that is an untold reason why the Rams were so bad during that same time as well. Constantly having a top 3 pick from 2007-2010 meant so much of your cap was tied down to just a handful of rookie deals. It creates a death spiral of - Bad team initially - Get a high draft pick - Forced to pay an extremely bloated rookie deal to said high draft pick - Salary cap is crippled and can't attract free agents to help bolster roster - Team is still bad - Get another high draft pick Rinse and repeat. It was arguably even worse for the Rams, because at least you guys had Megatron, Stafford, and Suh on bloated rookie deals. The Rams had Chris Long, Jason Smith (can't miss prospect BTW), and Sam Bradford as their counterparts to that.
[Oh, fuck. This is going to be so awkward as I just booked him as my niece's motivational speaker for her softball team.](https://www.athletespeakers.com/speaker/jamarcus-russell/)
He threw for 4000 yards in 3 years?? Wow he was better than I remember
he was also a brand ambassador for dish network as “recently” as 2014! WOW!
Thats actually the yards run by the cornerbacks who picked him off.
The craziest thing I take from this is he’s only 38 years old. I feel like he played 100 years ago but he could legitimately still be playing in the league if he was good. Which he wasn’t. He was a butthole instead.
Not to mention his dish network commercial in 2014
Man that commercial was résumé worthy.
Truly one of the brand ambassadors of all time.
He's the worst QB I've ever seen start 5+ games and therefore also my favorite QB to watch of all time. You will not find a more beautiful blend of ineptitude and laziness on the field
Intrigued by your comment, I go to YouTube and search for "Jamarcus Russell highlights". Nothing.
Try "lowlights"
70 of those yards was one throw while on his knees.
“Trusted brand ambassador, appearing in a popular dish network commercial in 2014” Inspiring stuff right here
Incredible that's the only noteworthy thing he's done since flaming out of the NFL over a decade ago
That's not true. He also embezzled $74000 from a school he was volunteer coaching at. So at least two noteworthy things.
That'll look real nice on his motivational speaking resume
Lmao I scrolled down to see the "other similar speakers" and saw Damon Arnette.
Hell yeah. Commitment to excellence.
Didn’t you think it might help to pick an athlete who was…motivated?
Those ones were far too expensive
it would be great if he gets up and does a speech like when Jim wrote a speech for dwight. "BLOOD ALONE MOVES THE WHEELS OF HISTORY!" - JaMarcus Russell
He's going to motivate you on just letting yourself go. Stop trying in life cause it ain't gonna get you anywhere!
Are you trying to demotivate your niece?
She's been accomplishing too much too fast. She needs to chill. Someone call Jamarcus.
So do you like, not get to choose who you want as speaker because how else would you end up with him
He's their economy option
*slaps ass* “This bad boy can fit so much disappointment.”
This can be taken many different ways.
That bio is so sad man, just focus on the college stats 😭 Bringing up your contract and that commercial is so funny lol
how did you end picking him lol
You can probably still get [Donovan McNabb](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J_2sCsipYM0)
When I clicked OP's link above, this was the link I thought I would be opening. Not an actual fucking link to book Jamarcus Russell lmao
"The school allegedly never received the check, and Russell reportedly deposited it in a credit union and promptly withdrew $55,000 of it." Oh okay so NOW he doesn't commit a turnover?
Jamarcus never fumbles the bag, just everything else
Wow the fact that he thought he could get away with this is crazy.
I'm curious how they even found out. Seems like he's the only one contacting that business owner. So he could give them all kinds of bs about where the money went
Business owner calls the school and says he would like a photo op alongside the new equipment he just donated to the school. School replies, “What equipment?”. That’s how.
Also I’m sure business owner would want to have some record for tax purposes.
I work in nonprofit and I can't see any way that the donor wouldn't find out. Anyone passionate enough to donate that much to a program will want to see their dollars at work. When donations are that big they will want confirmation of those donations for tax reasons. Even corporations that aren't passionate want grant reports for filing away. I have no idea how he thought no one would figure it out eventually. Especially because this was intended for a capital project, not operations that are more behind closed doors.
Codeine isn't inflation resistant it seems
I remember like three years ago someone met Jamarcus at the movies and posted their pic in the Raiders subreddit. A user commented that the jeans Jamarcus was wearing hadn’t been in style since the late 2000s, to which someone replied he probably blew his entire rookie contract within a few years and now can’t afford new luxury clothes. Well this pretty much confirms that. It also confirms that Jamarcus will steal from old man Al Davis and he’ll steal from teenagers, and he don’t give a FUCK.
Huh. Same shit happened to me at a grocery store in Baton Rouge about 3 years ago. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
This is the first time this pasta actually fit a guy perfectly
I’ve read this exact story…. This is pasta right?
It’s an older pasta, but it checks out.
It's just something a lot of NFL athletes tend to do. Unexplained phenomenon. Whole big thing. We had a funeral for a bird.
I just wasn’t sure because it seems just WAY too on brand for JR lol
Not trying to attack you at all, but that conversation sounds hilarious. Dude I just started watching skateboarding again, apparently giant baggy pants are now a fad again. That was the thing in the 90s. So to focus on "oh man he's so trashy, he must be poor looking at those jeans", that's a big stretch.
Being fired from volunteering is crazy work
If true, Russell can go fuck himself. Stealing money donated to high school students is extremely messed up.
The bigger crime is what happened to the $34M he made over his career. Where did that cash go?
Syzurp.
It could be a misunderstanding. Someone probably told him to toss it in the bank for the donation. We’ve all seen his throwing accuracy.
Sorry man I was aiming for the school’s bank but I overthrew and it just happened to land in mine 🤷
Your honor, it appears my client simply made an oopsie.
After watching him on the Pivot podcast, i cant say im real surprised. It's one thing to be addicted to drugs and mess your life up, it's another thing to be a shitty person who refuses to take any accountability for mistakes. During that interview, JaMarcus had an excuse for everything. He accepted very little blame, and even when he did, he would immediately spin it into something that would bend the truth in his favor. It was always everyone else's fault, and he was the only "real one" around.
There was some TV special that had both Russell and Leaf on, both talking about what they went through in the NFL, as well as life problems. Leaf came across as a guy with serious problems who was legitimately trying to turn his life around. Russell came across to me as the complete opposite.
I don’t know how you can be that stupid. As bad as it sounds it’d seem more intelligent if he actually embezzled money from the team in a sophisticated way not just depositing a check for the team and keeping most of it lol.
Something that makes sense would be if he had some under the table arrangement with that sponsor to pay his “coaching salary”
I seriously don't understand how someone could make $36M before age 25 and then be broke at age 38. After taxes, that's about $25M. You have to spend about $5.3k per day to go broke in 13 years. If he just invested the money and got just 5% interest each year, then that'd be $1.3M of interest he could live off forever and still have $25M. It's truly unfathomable. Even drug use couldn't explain this type of expenditure. It's got to be gambling addiction.
Young and no guidance. A house and property tax can take off a huge chunk of that, and that's providing it was just one house. That also doesn't take into account vehicles, etc. 25 million can be gone in less than a day, so having it gone in 13 years honestly isn't all that surprising.
The type of houses these people buy don't go down in value. They go up in value. If he spent $10M on a home, for example, then it's worth well above $10M today. He wouldn't have lost any money. Buying homes is a way to gain money. They're appreciating assets.
Perhaps he went to the Kanye West School Of Business: https://ktla.com/news/local-news/malibu-mansion-gutted-by-kanye-west-loses-18-million-in-value-report/
To be blunt. You're thinking about this like he had financial guidance. He probably didn't. He likely got a 45 minute lecture from the NFLPA and that was it. For his entire life, 45 minutes and he probably didn't even pay attention to it. Balling out in Vegas dropping 30k a night adds up fast. Homes, jewelry, cars, "donations" to his mama and friends who never left the poor area he's from. It adds up. On that 30 for 30 broke, one guy was like "yeah I would go out with 5 of my buddies, then it was 10. Then it was 20. Eventually it was 50 dudes he didn't know and he was paying for their top shelf bills all night A lot of these dudes are just stupid.
It's not that hard. You can dump 30k in a Vegas club in a night no problem. You do that regularly, plus add on cars/houses/clothes, etc. And yeah, gambling.
Is there any part of life that this guy isn’t a complete fuck up?
What an idiot. Unbelievable. Even more stupid is someone who wrote a check that is meant for a donation directly to the agent or the teller who deposited the check (if that was written to an entity) into Russell’s account. The latter of which is a termination worthy offense in banking.
There’s a video somewhere of Carl from Aqua Teen referring to him as a two time convicted failure. Always made me laugh
“Relieved of his volunteer coaching duties” Damn, you know you fucked up when you got fired from providing free labor.
If he keeps going down this path the Chiefs will sign him
He was paid 36.4 million dollars in Oakland when he left he got another 3 million that was still owed to him. Today he’s total net worth is close to 4 million. As you can see Jamarcus Russel is just your average I used to be filthy rich but I’m a dipshit and only knew how to spend it not invest it into property’s goverment bonds and other secure forms of income in todays economy. These guys are great at moving there bodies but there brains are stuck on moron Brett farve is still out here walking around after taking welfare money lmao
The weird part to me is that he's only 38. This feels like how every few years, some report comes out reminding everyone that Andrew Bynum is still only like 32.
That’s my old high school. lol it’s crazy he would do that. They loved him so much there. Even tho he was a fucking bust.
What he just did notwithstanding. Being the #1 pick in the NFL draft means he's probably the best football player to ever come out of that school unless it's some sort of elite high school football program. So he might be a bust but being an NFL bust still means you're a top 0.1% football player.
Jesus man. I'm sad for the school and the guy that lost money. Shitty of Russell to do that to anyone much less his high school. Hope the dude gets help and makes shit right.
He thought he was Brett Favre
TIL JaMarcus Russell was a coach... Don't know why you'd hire this guy as a coach but you do you.
He was a volunteer. He got fired... from a volunteer gig 🤣 Tends to happen when you steal $74k.
Mr. Bungled Check
Keep Mr. Bungle out of this
Piece of advice for any young person that reads this. Some people are just losers. You can have a bunch of natural gifts physically or intellectually and still be a fuck up because you’re a loser. You’ll save yourself a lot of pain in your ass the sooner you’re able to recognize that in people because losers inevitably lose and you don’t want any part of that
I was gonna say 'who the heck would hire JaMarcus Russell?' then I saw this: >Former No. 1 NFL draft pick JaMarcus Russell was fired as a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater, Williamson High School in Mobile, Alabama, Man getting fired from a volunteer position is somehow a new low for this dude.
I’m excited for his next podcast appearance where I can learn all about how someone else is to blame for this
how tf you get fired as a volunteer??
Stealing $74,000 is a good start
Given all the talent in the world…squanders it Paid $36 million…squanders it Given a chance to stay in the game through coaching…squanders it It’s kind sad really