Raiders release JaMarcus Russell

[CrustyRedskin]

Shutdown Corner Mon May 10, 2010 8:33 am EDT

Russell as a Raider, in one handy stat: $100,000 per completion
By MJD

As he seeks an employment situation better than the one he had in Oakland (pro: the possibly deranged owner really believed in him; con: everything else), I really don't want to pile on JaMarcus Russell(notes).

But Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times went to the trouble of crunching JaMarcus's financial numbers alongside his actual on-field production. So, just as one final recap of the mercifully dead JaMarcus Russell era in Oakland, I'll pass these along. Here's how JaMarcus was compensated for his production with the Oakland Raiders:

Roughly $100,000 per completion and $5.6 million per win.

For comparison's sake, Tom Brady's(notes) total salary last year was $8,007,280, which comes out to $21,583 per completion. Peyton Manning(notes) pocketed $14,005,720 last year, and made $35,638 per completion. They're all ridiculous numbers, but no one's are more ridiculous than those of JaMarcus Russell.

Farmer also suggests that Russell was a bigger bust than even Ryan Leaf, but I'll defend JaMarcus on that one. Leaf is head and shoulders above JaMarcus. If the Hall of Fame ever opens a special wing for the biggest draft disasters, it will be named the Ryan Leaf Center for Scaring The Bejeezus Out Of All Future Draft Prospects.

In total, Russell will pocket more than $39 million for his three years of work in Oakland. He's already been paid $36 million of that, and the Raiders still owe him $3 million more.

But that's the past. What's important for JaMarcus is the future, and I'm sure that someone will give him another opportunity, along with a more stable, positive work environment. He's got some changes he needs to make on his own, too.

The upside is that all of this provides him with the opportunity to become the greatest draft-bust-finds-redemption story ever. Maybe it's not quite the same opportunity he had as a first-overall draft pick, but it's something.