JaMarcus Russell has had a rocky stint in the NFL since being drafted. The former #1 overall pick with a massive contract hasn’t met expectations. On top of that, people have criticized him for his weight and lack of commitment. JaMarcus is attempting to change all of that by getting in shape and Raiders exec Willie Brown says people will be “surprised” when they see him.
This offseason hasn’t been the best for the young quarterback. He allegedly skipped the Raiders’ final team meeting to go to Vegas. On top of that, he didn’t show up for the Raiders’ first offseason workout. But the team says that JaMarcus’ absence was excused as he’s in Alabama trying to close a home. However, the biggest news (pun intended) is that JaMarcus is getting in shape. Here’s how Brown described Russell’s transformation:
“You’ll be surprised when you see him. It’s quite a bit of weight that he’s lost . . . I don’t want to pin it down and say how much he lost but it will be a significant difference when you see him compared to last year.
“The most important thing is he’s getting in shape. Not only losing weight, but getting in shape. He’s watching his diet, he has special meals brought in that he’s eating, and we have one of the Raiders, a former player there with him to monitor him and make sure things are going fine. The weight thing, he’ll get it down. He’ll get it down.”
Does this mean that we’ve seen the end of JaMarcus Russell fat jokes? This blog can only hope that’s not the case. Still, losing weight isn’t going to make Russell a good quarterback. While his weight was an issue, his biggest problem was his inability to complete passes. Russell turned in a league-low 50.0 quarterback rating among qualified quarterbacks to go with his 48.8% completion rate.
