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The writing was on the wall when he turned up to training camp in March weighing 290 pounds, moreso when he was rumored to have tipped the scales at 300 pounds in April and by the time that a trade was made for Washington's Jason Campbell a fortnight ago it looked like game over for JaMarcus Russell's time in Oakland. And today, less than three years into a six year $68 million contract, the decision was made to cut Russell from the Oakland Raiders.
With a return of only seven wins over three years at an outlay of $36 million, the decision was made to cut the ties and pay the $3 million owed in 2010 but saving just short of $6.5 million by not having him on the 2010 roster. At a rate of over $2 million per touchdown pass and $0.1 million per completion, the disastrous return on the contact handed to Russell will surely make him the poster child for a push for a rookie salary cap during the upcoming collective-bargaining negotiations to prevent the multi-million dollar contracts being handed to young unproven players.
After being taken as the #1 overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, Russell's time at Oakland was controversial right from the start as he held out on his contract negotiation until after the start of the 2007 season. With missing all of training camp, it was no surprise that it took until December to get his first start where he repaid the goodwill and money of the Raiders by throwing an interception in his first professional pass.
Russell, still only 24, will now go down as one of NFL's biggest draft busts and he will be happy to leave Oakland with over half the money from his contract and, more importantly, injury free since it's pretty much a certainty that another team will pick him up and try to rediscover the form that made him the most coveted young talent only three years ago.
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With a return of only seven wins over three years at an outlay of $36 million, the decision was made to cut the ties and pay the $3 million owed in 2010 but saving just short of $6.5 million by not having him on the 2010 roster. At a rate of over $2 million per touchdown pass and $0.1 million per completion, the disastrous return on the contact handed to Russell will surely make him the poster child for a push for a rookie salary cap during the upcoming collective-bargaining negotiations to prevent the multi-million dollar contracts being handed to young unproven players.
After being taken as the #1 overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, Russell's time at Oakland was controversial right from the start as he held out on his contract negotiation until after the start of the 2007 season. With missing all of training camp, it was no surprise that it took until December to get his first start where he repaid the goodwill and money of the Raiders by throwing an interception in his first professional pass.
Russell, still only 24, will now go down as one of NFL's biggest draft busts and he will be happy to leave Oakland with over half the money from his contract and, more importantly, injury free since it's pretty much a certainty that another team will pick him up and try to rediscover the form that made him the most coveted young talent only three years ago.
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