Bust Makes $5.6 Million Per Win

RussellThe business side of professional sports sometimes can be pretty ridiculous, and there is no better example than ex-Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell.  The situation also brings to light the importance and risk that comes with the NFL Draft.  The Oakland Raiders selected Russell with the first pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, which resulted in a six-year contract that would have been worth up to $68 million, with $31.5 million guaranteed.  He, however, was recently cut by the team, and many experts have said that he may be one of the NFL's biggest draft busts.

A columnist, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, took the numbers even further by figuring the amount of money he earned for his work on the field.  The numbers are outlandish.  In his career with the Raiders, and the money they paid him he made, he made $100,000 per completion, and $5.6 million dollars per win.  Are you kidding me?  His occupation, yes, is throwing the football, but making $100,000 per ball that is caught is beyond crazy.  Farmer went on to compare Russell's numbers with those of the two top quarterbacks in the NFL, New England Patriot Tom Brady and Indianapolis Colt Peyton Manning.  Brady's salary last year was $8,007, 280, which results in $21,583 per completion, while Manning made $14,005,720, which made him $35,638 per caught pass.  A person can't even phantom making that much money for the simple act of throwing a completed pass, but it just enforces would ridiculous Russell's figure is.

Russell did not perform, now is unemployed, and a team will have to take a risk for his services, but this one won't cost them as much.  Going from being a number one draft pick to not working has not to be the reality check that Russell needs to perform better. 

The situation also has future implications, and future rookies may not see Russell in the greatest light, for this is the fuel for the fire that the NFL needs in its attempt to cap rookie salaries.  This evidence really enforces the point that it is too much of a gamble to give these kids that much money up front for unproven work.  The NFL generates a lot of money, but paying a young kid $100,000 per throw is not in their business plan.