JaMarcus Russell Deserves A Second First Chance at Success in the NFL, Life

I was watching Get Him to the Greek this week, and while it wasn’t exactly The English Patient, one line from the movie stuck with me.

For those who don’t know, the premise of the movie is that Aaron Greene (Jonah Hill) is charged by P. Diddy (playing a fictional version of himself named Sergio) to escort Aldous Snow (Russell Brand, aka the future Mr. Katy Perry) from London to Los Angeles.

Snow, a recurring character from the Judd Apatow movies, has descended into a life of addiction and debauchery after his album "African Child" failed miserably and his longtime girlfriend, and mother of his son, left him.

In a candid moment, Hill’s character asks Snow why he is a drug addict, to which he responds something like this: "I could have all sorts of problems — my career, my love life, my child, or I could just worry about drugs."  Eventually though, the movie ends happily, with Snow getting his life back on track and being sober.

Somehow, the whole thing reminded me a lot of JaMarcus Russell, a young man whose life went drastically downhill after great potential and stardom turned into disappointment and mockery. Maybe, just maybe, Russell’s story can similarly have a good ending.

People wonder if JaMarcus Russell deserves a second chance after his arrest for possession of codeine, but I think there may be another question altogether: Did he ever have a first one?

There seems to exist some notion that Russell is an idiot, incapable of learning NFL offenses and defenses. How can you say this though when Tim Tebow, a so-called "intelligent" quarterback, scored a 22 on the Wonderlic test while Russell scored a 24?

Oakland taking the LSU quarterback with the first overall pick in 2007 wasn’t remotely controversial like their Darrius Heyward-Bey move. Russell was the consensus No. 1, lauded by GMs around the league as the next Big Ben or Daunte Culpepper.

But it was Oakland who took him.

Back in 2007, the inexperienced Lane Kiffin had just been hired by the Raiders, and although he did not want Russell, Al Davis insisted on drafting the talented arm. Russell held out and didn’t get to Raiders camp until September, but how much of the blame can you really pin on Russell for this?

Negotiating with Al Davis, as we all know, can be a nonsensical experience at times, and how often do we see young drafted players advised by the wrong people? Sure, Russell shouldn’t have held out, but this wasn’t the dagger in the heart of his career.

The Raiders were.

First of all, what was the best that the Raiders have ever ranked in the NFL in pass protection since Russell entered the league in 2007? According to Football Outsiders, the answer is 27th in Russell’s first year, with rankings of 30 and 31 thereafter.

And what about weapons to throw to? The only receiver that Russell ever had who was "above replacement value," according to Football Outsiders, was Ronald Curry in 2007, and Russell didn’t even play until Week 12 of that year. Basically, the Raiders’ No. 1 receivers were as good as the average team’s third receiver during the quarterback’s tenure in Oakland. While the Raiders’ running game has been strong, it hasn’t been efficient, and Darren McFadden didn’t take pressure off Russell as Raiders fans had hoped.

Then, there’s the issue of coaching. Lane Kiffin made it very clear that he never wanted JaMarcus Russell, creating tension with Al Davis and discouraging the young talent. Tom Cable replaced Kiffin, and while a minor upgrade, hasn’t exactly set good examples or encouraged discipline.

Oftentimes, you see teams pair veteran quarterbacks with rookies so that a student-teacher type relationship can form, and the elder can mentor the immature youth. The Raiders, though, never had anybody better than Josh McCown for that role — not exactly Brett Favre teaching Aaron Rodgers.

Nobody in the organization was available to help Russell grow.

And Raiders culture? As you can see from the “Black Hole” and Ice Cube’s documentary Straight Out of L.A., it even somewhat celebrates outlaw behavior. So should anybody really be surprised that Russell’s career took an Aldous Snow-type turn? Russell barely had a chance to the contrary. Weathly and immature, he was doomed to failure by his organization.

It’s easy to make fun of Jamarcus Russell for his "purple drank" binge. It’s not only a criminal act, but a ridiculous one.

It’s a lot harder to think about why all this happened, and to not immediately call the guy the new Ryan Leaf. The reaction of the fans and media to the Russell arrest has almost been one of excitement, as though people are enjoying his mistakes and failures, and frankly, that’s wrong.

The only person Russell has ever hurt has been himself, and the Raiders gave him every opportunity to do exactly that.

But maybe he could even grow up because of all of this.

So who should take a chance on the former top pick? How about the Vikings? They need a quarterback of the future, have great talent on the offensive line and at the skill positions, and have an old man from Dixie who could probably teach Russell a couple of things.

In Minnesota, Jamarcus Russell finally could have his first chance to succeed, on and off the field.