The great ones make it look easy. JaMarcus Russell, who in little more than three calendar years established himself as the most despised, unproductive, disinterested, uncommitted, overpaid, unmotivated, scandalously inept bust of an athlete EVER. He was a flaming disappointment at every turn, from the contract holdout that lasted into his rookie season, to zero improvement during his second year, to his disastrous 2009, to the practices he loafed through and the meetings he slept through or blew off entirely.
Ryan Leaf has been at the top of each and every career NFL draft busts list since the San Diego Chargers took him with the second overall pick in 1998. But now there’s a bigger bust ready to assume that mantle. Not only was JaMarcus Russell’s fall from grace a bigger drop, he was drafted first overall while Leaf was the No. 2 pick behind Peyton Manning, Russell is also in a tax bracket Leaf never got close to, having been paid 39 million dollars when all is said and done.
And Russell holds the record for eating the most Bigmacs during a football game - 36 of them in total.
The Oakland Raiders released the would-be franchise quarterback after paying him $39 million for three seasons (at $13 million per), seven wins ($5.6 million per) in 25 starts ($1.56 million per), 18 touchdowns ($2.17 million per), 23 interceptions (a bargain at $1.7 million per) and the kind of memories money can't buy.
Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times went to the trouble of crunching JaMarcus's financial numbers alongside his actual on-field production. Here's how JaMarcus was compensated for his production with the Oakland Raiders: Roughly $100,000 per completion. For comparison's sake, Tom Brady's total salary last year was $8,007,28 -which comes out to $21,583 per completion. In the NFL they're all ridiculous numbers, but no one's are more ridiculous than JaMarcus Russell's.
If the Hall of Fame ever opens a special wing for the biggest draft disasters, it will be named after JaMarcus Russell. It's time to turn over a new leaf and crown JaMarcus Russell the biggest NFL bust of all time.
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