Oakland Raiders Owe Russell A Reported $3M

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Raiders are paying former number 1 overall draft pick, JaMarcus Russell, close to $3 million to settle his rookie contract. There is apparently a dispute between the two sides.

When Russell was draft number 1 overall in the 2007 draft, the Raiders agreed to a 6 year/$68 million contract. He was only paid $36.4 million of that contract; he was still due to receive $3 million more when the team decided to part ways in 2010. Both parties filed grievances, claiming the other side owed them around $9 million.

I’m sure the Raiders are happy to be able to just put this in the past for now, although the selection of JaMarcus Russell in 2007 might go down as one of the worst number 1 picks of all time. Russell hasn’t took a snap behind center since 2009, and had a 7-25 career record as a starting quarterback for the Raiders.

Recently, JaMarcus Russell has been trying to make a comeback into the NFL. He lost a lot of weight and improved on some of his flaws, and was invited to work out with the Chicago Bears a few weeks ago. However, he didn’t show enough to get a contract with the team, and is still unsigned today.