What Is The Fair Market Value Of JaMarcus Russell?

As the 2010 NFL Draft gets closer, the QB situation in Oakland gets cloudier. Instead of having their Franchise QB preparing for another season, the Raiders have instead added a fifth QB to their team roster (source: Raiders.com). So what does having so many QB's mean? For one, it means that only 3 will make it into the 2010 season.

JaMarcus Russell has not emerged as a leader for his team. In fact, many speculate that he has not emerged as the starter for 2010. Coach Cable has openly stated that there will be a competition for the starting job.

This got me to wondering, what is the fair market value of JaMarcus Russell?

If Al Davis had finally had enough of Russell and decided to shop him on the open market, what could he get for him? Would a team be willing to trade a draft pick for him? What about for a player that they wanted to get rid of?

So I started looking at teams to see if there might be a fit.

Maybe the Patriots? What about the Rams? Then it hit me, what about the Redskins? They just got McNabb and Russell could come in and sit behind him and learn for another season or 2. Then he could take the reigns over once he had really gotten a handle on his maturity and seen the game through Shanahan's and McNabb's perspective.

There is no arguing that Russell is physically gifted. He is also built similar to McNabb, so it might make sense that Shanahan would want to find a strong arm QB similar in stature that could take over for McNabb without having to rework the playbook.

Shanahan also has a history of turning late round draft pick RB's into perennial weapons. So, maybe he believes Russell has what it takes and just needs solid coaching to become a franchise QB. Since Shanahan knows Al Davis and the Raiders inside and out, maybe he knows why Russell hasn't developed there and believes he has a new system that will work for Russell.

Considering Shanahan openly sta...

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