JaMarcus Russell JaMarcus Trenell Russell ( born August 9 , 1985 ) is a American football quarterback who is currently a free agent . Russell played college football for the LSU Tigers where he finished 21 – 4 as a starter and was named MVP of the 2007 Sugar Bowl . The Oakland Raiders selected Russell with the first overall pick of the 2007 NFL Draft . Russell held out until the Raiders signed him to a contract worth $ 61 million with $ 32 million guaranteed . In three seasons with the Raiders , Russell finished 7 – 18 as a starter before his release on May 6 , 2010 . Early life . Russell was born in Mobile , Alabama and attended Lillie B . Williamson High School . For all four years under head coach Bobby Parrish , Russell started and never missed a football game . In his freshman year , Russell completed 180 - of - 324 passes for 2 , 683 yards and 20 touchdowns as Williamson reached the state championship game . By the next season , Russell had grown to six - foot - three and 185 pounds , had received his first recruiting letters and was becoming more adept with the playbook . Russell passed for 2 , 616 yards and 20 touchdowns during his sophomore year and led the team to the semifinals . Russell ' s best season was his senior year ; he completed 219 - of - 372 passes for 3 , 332 yards and 22 touchdowns , and rushed for another 400 yards and five touchdowns . This earned Russell " Parade " magazine All - American honorable mention honors . His 10 , 774 career passing yards broke the Alabama High School Athletic Association record and still stands today . Russell was at the center of an ESPN " Outside the Lines " story on high school sports in Mobile . He also played basketball and threw the javelin in track and field . College career ( 2003 – 2006 ) . Freshman and sophomore seasons . In February 2003 on National Signing Day , Russell committed to Louisiana State University ( LSU ) over Florida State University , becoming the LSU Tigers ' 28th and final recruit of the 2003 season . He redshirted his freshman year and by the fall of the 2005 season , Russell was the starting quarterback . He led the Tigers to a 10 – 1 regular season record , the Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) Western Division title , and a top five ranking going into the SEC Championship Game . He also improved statistically , completing 60 percent of his passes for 2 , 443 yards and 15 touchdowns . Russell received an honorable mention on the AP ' s All - SEC Team . Russell led the Tigers to two come - from - behind wins in the regular season . The first came on a 39 yard pass to Early Doucet on 4th down in the final minute of the game , as the Tigers defeated Arizona State 35 – 31 . Later in the season , LSU defeated a then - undefeated Alabama team 16 – 13 when Russell completed a 14 yard touchdown to Dwayne Bowe in overtime . Russell injured his shoulder in a loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game , and missed the team ' s bowl game . Backup quarterback Matt Flynn replaced Russell for the Peach Bowl against Miami , and the Tigers won the game 40 – 3 . Junior season . Russell was the starting quarterback again at LSU in 2006 , beating out Matt Flynn and highly touted redshirt freshman Ryan Perrilloux . Before the season began , he changed his jersey number from 4 to 2 . He had a productive 2006 regular season , leading the Tigers to a 10 – 2 record and a BCS Sugar Bowl berth . He threw for 3 , 129 yards , 28 touchdowns and eight interceptions . He was second in the SEC with 2 , 923 yards from scrimmage . Russell also won the SEC Offensive Player of the Week award three times during the regular season . During one game against Tennessee , Russell started the game poorly , throwing three interceptions ( including one that was returned for a touchdown ) , but subsequently led LSU on a 15 - play , 80 - yard comeback drive in the end the game . At the end of the drive , Russel threw a touchdown pass to Early Doucet while there was less than 10 seconds left . As a result , LSU won 28 – 24 . In the Allstate Sugar Bowl , Russell accumulated over 350 yards of passing and rushing combined and scored three touchdowns , leading LSU to a 41 – 14 win over Notre Dame . For his performance , he was named Sugar Bowl MVP . At the end of the 2006 season , Russell was named to the all - SEC first team , ahead of Kentucky ' s Andre Woodson and Florida ' s Chris Leak . In addition , he was named an honorable mention All - American by " Sports Illustrated " . On January 10 , 2007 , Russell stated that he had decided to skip his final season of NCAA eligibility to enter the 2007 NFL Draft . Professional career . 2007 NFL Draft . John Clayton of ESPN stated that Russell ' s workouts at the 2007 NFL Combine that Russell ' s arm strength and size impressed several teams , and predicted that it would " be hard to pass up on Russell at # 1 . " At the combine , Russell stated about his size , " I ' ve been playing quarterback ever since . I was always bigger and taller than the other kids , and I was always able to throw it a pretty good length of the field . " Cleveland Browns General Manager Phil Savage said of Russell ' s abilities , " His talent is substantial . He ' s a rare combination of size and arm strength . " Russell was selected by the Oakland Raiders as the number one overall pick . Russell was one of four LSU players taken in the first round , along with safety LaRon Landry , and wide receiver s Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis . Oakland Raiders . 2007 season . After failing to reach a contract agreement with the Raiders , Russell held out through training camp and into the first week of the 2007 NFL season , until September 12 , when he signed a six - year contract worth up to $ 68 million , with $ 31 . 5 million guaranteed . Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin did not immediately name Russell a starter , saying , " That way we can really control what he is doing , play for this set amount of time for this many plays . He doesn ' t have to have everything mastered , " noting that Russell had missed all of training camp and other quarterbacks , like David Carr , should have been brought along more slowly . Russell made his first professional appearance on December 2 , 2007 against the Denver Broncos . Coming into the game in the second quarter in relief of starter Josh McCown , Russell played two series , and completed 4 of 7 pass attempts for 56 yards . On December 23 , 2007 against the Jacksonville Jaguars , Russell threw his first career touchdown pass , a 2 - yard pass to Zach Miller . He finished the game with seven completions on 23 pass attempts for 83 yards , with one touchdown pass , three interceptions and a lost fumble . Russell made his first career start in the final game of the season against the San Diego Chargers . Russell was intercepted twice and lost a fumble , which led to 17 points off turnovers for the Chargers . After throwing his second interception , Russell did not initially get up off the field due to an injury , and he was taken to the locker room on a cart later in the game , after which he was replaced by Andrew Walter . In that first start , Russell completed 23 of 31 passes for 224 yards , one touchdown , two interceptions , and a lost fumble . Russell finished his rookie season with 36 completed passes on 66 attempts , 373 yards , two touchdowns and four interceptions . After the San Diego game , Kiffin named Russell the starting quarterback for the upcoming 2008 season . 2008 season . Russell was named the starter for the opening game of the 2008 season , which was against division rival , Denver Broncos . Despite losing 41 – 14 in his second career start , Russell completed over 65 percent of his passes , throwing for 180 yards , two touchdowns , and no interceptions . Next week against the Kansas City Chiefs , the Raiders won 23 – 8 . Russell passed for only 55 yards and completed 6 - of - 17 passes with no touchdowns or interceptions . The next three weeks the Raiders lost against the Buffalo Bills , San Diego Chargers , and New Orleans Saints . Russell started all three games , but only threw a combined total of two touchdowns during that span . In Week 7 , the Raiders beat the New York Jets 16 – 13 in overtime . The win ended their four - game home losing streak . Russell completed 17 - of - 30 passes for 203 yards and one touchdown . It was head coach Tom Cable ' s first win as Raiders head coach . Russell led the team on a 43 yard drive to set up Janikowski ' s game winning kick . The next four games were lost to the Baltimore Ravens , Atlanta Falcons , Carolina Panthers , and Miami Dolphins . A week after the Miami game , Russell led the Raiders to a 31 – 10 victory against Denver where he completed 10 - of - 11 passes for 152 yards and threw one touchdown . Russell finished the 2008 season winning back to back games against the Houston Texans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers . In those last three games , Russell threw for six touchdowns and two interceptions . 2009 season . In August , Russell was named starter of the Raiders . Following a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on November 15 , Russell was benched indefinitely by coach Tom Cable due to poor play in favor of Bruce Gradkowski . Gradkowski led two fourth quarter comebacks and upset the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers in the following two weeks , throwing 5 touchdown passes . After Gradkoswki was injured against the Washington Redskins , Russell finished the game for the Raiders , which resulted in a loss . After the game , coach Cable decided to start backup Charlie Frye rather than Russell , which moved Russell to # 3 on the depth chart . When Frye was injured against the Denver Broncos Russell played near the end of the game . The game resulted in a win , however , this was Russell ' s final game as a Raider . He finished the 2009 season with the lowest quarterback rating , lowest completion percentage , fewest passing touchdowns , and fewest passing yards among qualifying quarterbacks in the NFL . In March of the 2010 offseason , NBC Sports described Russell as " annually and incredibly overweight " , saying he arrived at mini - camp weighing 290 pounds , up from his initially reported weight of 271 . By April , National Football Post reported him at 300 pounds . However , Cam Inman of " The Oakland Tribune " said that Russell had " a good first minicamp " and " is in great shape " in the team ' s first training camp in late April . In an interview during camp , Russell said " Today I ' m going to keep coming out , compete for the job , work my tail off . " That same month , the Raiders traded for Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell , which left the team with five quarterbacks on – Campbell , Russell , Frye , Gradkowski , and Kyle Boller . At the time , Raiders head coach Tom Cable said Russell could compete for the starting job . Despite this , and because Russell was due a $ 9 . 45 million salary in 2010 , some NFL experts reported that Russell would soon be released . On May 6 , the Raiders released Russell . One day later , Russell cleared waivers , making him an unrestricted free agent . Future in football . New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton said on May 8 , 2010 that the time was not right for the Saints to consider signing Louisiana - native Russell , but added in that it ' s " newsworthy " when a high draft pick is released so soon , and stated that players like Russell often get a second chance in the NFL . However , due in part to concerns about his work ethic , his number has yet to be called by another NFL team . The Raiders filed a grievance on May 28 , 2010 , seeking $ 9 . 55 million back from Russell for what was paid as salary advances for the 2010 – 12 NFL seasons . Russell ' s agent said " The money in question was fully guaranteed . That is why JaMarcus was forced to hold out and miss all of training camp as a rookie . The Raiders know that and this is our only comment . " In November 2010 , Russell tried out for the Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins for open backup quarterback positions , but was not signed by either team . In 2013 , Russell stated that he is interested in returning to the NFL , and will train with various NFL players , including Marshall Faulk and Jeff Garcia , along with Olympian Ato Boldon . Impact . " NFL . com " ' s Steve Wyche claimed that Russell is the biggest draft bust in NFL history . " The Huffington Post " named Russell one of the 13 biggest draft busts of the 2000s . ESPN ' s Bill Williamson called Russell a " talented but extremely disappointing " quarterback . In addition , Russell ' s 2009 passer rating of 50 . 0 was the lowest rating by a starting quarterback in the NFL since 1998 . His final stats during his tenure as a Raider were 52 . 1 % pass completion , 18 – 23 TD - INT ratio , a passer rating of 65 . 2 , and 15 lost fumbles . No Oakland player has worn Russell ' s # 2 during the regular season since his release ( although punter Marquette King , currently on the Raiders ' Injured Reserve list , did wear that number during Oakland ' s 2012 preseason ) . In 2011 , newly - drafted quarterback Terrelle Pryor ' s request to wear # 2 was turned down by coach Hue Jackson ; it is widely believed that the Raiders did not want another highly touted quarterback wearing the same number as the disappointing Russell . Personal . Russell was born to Bobby Lloyd and Zina L . Russell - Anderson , a machine operator in a furniture factory and a law firm secretary , respectively . Russell is a cousin of Robert Jordan , formerly of the California Golden Bears and San Francisco 49ers , and Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks . His uncle Ray Ray Russell was a long - time DJ and radio host for the Mobile , Alabama - based station WBLX until his death in 2009 . In 2011 his cousin DeAngelo Parker started Ray Ray ' s Chicken and Waffles franchise in honor of him in Mobile , Alabama . In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina , Russell housed around a dozen evacuees who had fled the flooding in New Orleans , including New Orleans singer Fats Domino , in his off - campus apartment . Codeine syrup possession arrest . On July 5 , 2010 , Russell was arrested at his Mobile , Alabama home for being in possession of codeine syrup without a valid prescription . His arrest was the culmination of a two - month investigation that did not initially target Russell , but his name and address surfaced repeatedly during the investigation . Russell was bailed out , and a bond hearing was scheduled for July 7 , 2010 . At his July 20 , 2010 arraignment , Russell pleaded ' not guilty ' to a state felony charge of possession of a controlled substance . On October 29 , 2010 , a Mobile County grand jury declined to indict Russell on the charge of possession of codeine syrup without a prescription . By at least one account , the arrest severely diminished his prospects of catching on with another NFL team . In an interview with ESPN ' s Colleen Dominguez , Russell stated that he tested positive for codeine after he was selected by the Raiders in the 2007 NFL Draft .