Jamarcus Russell cites relationship with Jimbo Fisher and how it impacted his NFL exit
Jamarcus Russell never reached his NFL potential for a bevy of reasons, but a cloudy future became clear to the former first overall selection when harkening back to memories of his offensive coordinator at LSU, Jimbo Fisher.
Famously, the Oakland Raiders selected Russell to lead their franchise into the future, but there was dissension among the ranks after the former LSU star was brought into the fold. In a piece titled “You Don’t Know a Damn Thing About Jamarcus Russell” by the man himself in The Players’ Tribune, Russell detailed how NFL coaches treated him, compared to Fisher.
“None of those coaches wanted me in the first place,” wrote Russell. “Only Al Davis wanted me. That’s on record. Those coaches didn’t give a damn about me — not as a player, and damn sure not as a person. That whole 2009 season was a mess. Finally, it got to a breaking point. We’re sitting in the QB room one day going over film after a loss, and my quarterback coach starts up. He’s motherf***ing me, calling me a son of a b***h and whatnot.
“Look at this motherf***er.”
“Now, let’s get it straight. I’ve been cussed out before. I got cussed out by Jimbo Fisher at LSU a thousand times, and I’d still run through a wall for that man, because Jimbo really took his time and coached me. I got to really get to know him, as a man. In the NFL, it’s not like that. I never even had this coach’s phone number. Outside the facility, we didn’t speak. There was no relationship.”
During the 2009 season, Paul Hackett was the quarterback coach of the Raiders. After the 2010 season, he retired from coaching, but the impact he had of Russell’s career just emphasized what he already believed — his coaches didn’t believe in him in the way Fisher did.
Moreover, Russell would be released by the Raiders at the end of the 2009 season — just his third year in the NFL. The former LSU star came into the league with big dreams, but a nightmare is what his career unraveled into.
There’s many reasons why Jamarcus Russell‘s NFL career didn’t pan out, but it’s evident his coaching staff did him no favors throughout. If the former No. 1 pick had more coaches like Jimbo Fisher with the Raiders, perhaps he wouldn’t be considered one of the biggest busts in NFL history.