I'll have to the buck the consensus here (which I'm loath to do, as I'm a lifelong Charger fan, meaning I hate the Raiders and Al Davis as a matter of course - well, I did until they sank to the point that the Bolts have beaten the Silver And Black 13 consecutive times), but the benchmark of QB busts remains Ryan Leaf. Russell is clearly a dud, and a waste of a No. 1 pick and the money that went along with it, but from all accounts (even Garcia's) he hasn't wrecked the Raiders as badly as Leaf wrecked the Chargers. There have been many first round QB picks that have flopped - few as badly as Russell, true - but Leaf was an unmitigated disaster on the field, and an even worse disaster off the field. In fact, Leaf's debacle raised numerous red flags about Russell that anyone other than Al Davis would have heeded. Like Leaf, Russell only had one big season in college, both on very good teams, and both seemed to have little going for them other than big arms. I'd have to go go back and look, but I don't recall Russell being considered a can't miss prospect, unlike Leaf, who was universally considered the equal of Peyton Manning coming out of college (if ever anyone needed evidence that scouting is at least as much art and guesswork as science that would surely be sufficient.) The one good thing about Leaf was that the Chargers were so burnt by it, that they spurned Vick for Tomlinson (a move for which they were heavily criticized for at the time) and drafted only QBs with proven collegiate records (Brees, Rivers, even Charlie Whithurst). Once burnt, and all that. I doubt if Ancient Al will learn the same lesson from Russell.
Edited by: Alworth No.19
