Damage Done

I got this little nugget from Peter King on his Monday Morning Quarterback website. This is a terrific website, by the way.

"From the Remnants of Jamarcus Russell Dept:

In wake of the recent trade of Matt Schaub from Houston to Oakland, and assuming Schaub starts at least one game for the Raiders in 2014, this will be the sixth consecutive year a non-homegrown quarterback will start for the Raiders.

In order: Charlie Frye (2009), Bruce Gradkowski (2009, 10), Jason Campbell (2010,11), Carson Palmer (2011,12), and Matt Flynn (2013). If Schaub does start, that means six imported quarterbacks starting in six seasons."

To be honest, homegrown quarterbacks Terrelle Pryor and Matt McGloin started some games for the Raiders last year. As King further points out, many football people have said that if you draft a quarterback high and he bombs, it sets your franchise back five years. Drafting Jamarcus Russell with the #1 pick in the 2007 NFL Draft may have set the Raiders back seven years. The Raiders haven't done a lot of great drafting before or after they selected Russell so there's no shortage of reasons for the team's recent difficulties. Russell is a special case. Few, if any, #1 picks have failed as miserably as Jamarcus Russell. It's real easy to poke fun at the Raiders for that selection but there are quite a few teams that would have made the same selection. Russell is a big reason for the rookie-wage scale that came out of the new CBA.

Jamarcus Russell did a lot of damage to Oakland. He did nothing as their #1 pick. That failing forced the team to find a veteran starter. Obviously, that didn't work. He may have also made the team gun-shy in drafting another quarterback with a high pick. Drafting a quarterback isn't the only way to find a quality quarterback. Look at Denver and New Orleans. It's still the most effective way. Russell was a bust in 2007 and he forced the Raiders to scramble. That was a disaster. If Matt Schaub can regain his confidence, maybe he can give the Raiders a couple of decent seasons. That would be a nice change from the recent past.