Re: (OT-NFL) What happens if a team (Raiders) can't sign its first round pick?

100% of the reason JaMarcus was drafted #1 was based on one game against
a
highly overrated Notre Dame team.

Yes, NFL scouts ignore a player's entire career and only look at one
bowl game. After all, Jared Zambransky and Chris Leak were very high
draft picks too!

If your ludicrous claim is true, please explain why Kiper, Rivals.com,
*and* The Sporting News War Room all had him as the #2 draft-eligable
player (behind Calvin Johnson) in the middle of November (a full 6
weeks before the Sugar Bowl against an "overrated Notre Dame team")?

Okay, let's see. First, I didn't say that JaMarcus wasn't a gifted physical
specimen, who, unlike your examples of Zabransky and Leak, fits the NFL pro
style quarterback. What I said was that he was drafted NUMBER ONE based on
that one game, and yes, I believe that to be the case. This happens time
and time again in the NFL Draft, a player that was not rated obscenely
highly skyrockets up the chart, occasionally even landing at #1 based on his
performance in a bowl game, the senior bowl or the combine. I have no doubt
that he would have gone in the first round regardless, but he got taken
first off the strength of one seemingly stellar performance (that I believe
was stellar primarily because it was against a team that is perenially
perceived to be far better than it normally is). It always astonishes ME
the weight people put on idiots like Kiper and other web sites which are as
wrong as often as they are right (i.e. Mel Kiper condemning the league a few
years ago for not realizing that Mike Williams was the greatest thing to
come into the NFL since sliced bread).

Just because the casual college football fan had never heard of
JaMarcus before the Sugar Bowl doesn't mean he wasn't well known among
people who actually pay attention. There were at least 3 games last
year that LSU won because of JaMarcus Russell's outstanding play in
the 4th quarter (Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Arkansas).

That's wonderful. I'm glad he won LSU some games.

I have no idea if Russell will be a bust
or not, anymore than anyone could have legitimately predicted that Tom
Brady
was going to be a future HoFer when he was drafted in the 6th round by
New
England, but what I can absolutely say is that Russell was never that
gifted
a QB in college

...never that gifted? He went 21-4 in his last two years at LSU, and
put up outstanding numbers for a winning team in the SEC (28 TDs, 8
INTs last year while completing 68% of his passes)...the two games he
lost were @ eventual National Champion Florida and 7-3 loss in a
flukey game @ Auburn where his recievers dropped at least 2 sure
touchdowns in the 2nd half

It's always "flukey" when your guy doesn't have good stats in a certain
game, isn't it? Let's look at some of his stats last season, the season
you're going ga-ga over:

9/16 vs Auburn: 20-35 269 yds 0 td 0 int (so-so) Loss
10/7 vs Florida: 24-41 228 yds 1 td 3 int (bad) Loss
11/4 vs Tennessee: 24-36 247 yds 3 td 3 int (not great) Win

My god Peck, I was so wrong. I mean, against 3 quality opponents he had
4TDs and 6INTs! That's it, you beat me fair and square. Now, look at his
stats versus inferior opponents:

9/2 vs Louisiana-Lafayette: 13-17 253 yds 3 td 0 int
9/30 vs Mississippi St.: 18-20 33o yds 3 td 0 int
11/18 vs Mississippi: 20-36 223 yds 3 td 0 int

That's a hell of a lot more impressive on a stat line, I'll tell you what.
Being a QB that feeds his stats on inferior opponents and plays only average
ball against quality ones does not make him the college superstar you're
positioning him to be. Russell is an outstanding physical specimen that
played reasonably well for an outstanding college team and was likely going
to be drafted in the first round. Your pro-JaMarcus bias however has done
nothing to persuade me that he was drafted #1 overall based on his entire
college career.

and he should pray nightly to the football gods for allowing
the hype machine to build him up and be thankful for whatever money the
Raiders are offering him.

"the hype machine"? What is this, the E! Channel? They aren't drafting
football-playing celebrities, they're drafting quarterbacks that they
hope will eventually win them football games...and from what *I* saw
of JaMarcus in both high school (Williamson High School in Mobile
holla!) and college (although he would have come to Auburn if we'd
matched the $$$ that LSU gave his family), there's no doubt that he'll
be a machine in the NFL.

This is a level of naivetee I wouldn't have expected of you, to be honest.
You don't think Al Davis is drafting a football-playing celebrity? Are you
kidding me? There is not a chance in hell Davis didn't heavily weigh the
merchandising potential of Russell in his decision making process. And
let's be honest here, ANY positive statement you make right now about the
Raiders front office is going to be laughed at by everyone. They're the
biggest bumblers in the entire league and I could easily point out that the
fact that they did draft Russell is not a slam-dunk argument in his favor.
I won't though. Like I said, I have no idea if Russell is going to succeed
in the NFL. Even if he doesn't, unless he fails spectacularly it could
simply be because of the team he's gotten stuck with. However, let's not
let regional bias color your eyes to the fact that Russell was never a
super-stud QB in college. He was a guy that played reasonably well for a
stellar team and helped lead them to a bunch of wins. That doesn't make him
the next coming of Joe Montana.

--
Setzer


.

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