Boom Or Bust for JaMarcus in 2009?

The modern NFL carries with it some harsh realities. For coaches, the grace period doesn’t last too long beyond the introductory press conference. Players face even more pressure to perform quickly or else -- especially when they play the quarterback position. And especially when they arrived amid much hype and fanfare. Let’s face it, under today’s standards Terry Bradshaw would have been pumping gas in South Carolina long before securing his first Super Bowl ring. So for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007, his third year could be his last chance to show that he’s the real deal. But it’s not getting off to a great start for Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell. He skipped the first week of offseason workouts, and as far as we can tell he hasn’t shown up yet for week two. Recently, coach Tom Cable tried to give Russell some public coaxing. Said Cable: “If he can accept the responsibility of being an NFL quarterback, I think that’s working more, working harder, working longer than everybody else, accepting the responsibility that his teammates look to him as the face of the organization, that he has to go above and beyond almost on a daily basis, I think that comes with that position, whether that’s right or wrong, that’s what it is. . . . If he can accept that and become that, he’ll be fine. He’ll be great, I think. Has he done that? I think during the last six weeks he started to, during the season. I think thus far in the offseason he’s been around more than ever. He was never around like this on his own, just watching tape, studying, so that’s a step in the right direction. I think he has to embrace that, though, for him to be what he should be.” The fact that Russell hasn’t been around when the studying stopped and the sweating started surely is discouraging for Cable. “In college, it’s easy,” Cable said. “At this level, I think there’s so much on that position, so much you ask him to do. That’s why they’re so critical to your success. You really look at it and it’s him wanting to be as good as he can be and understanding what it takes to do that.” And that really is the key, in our view. Though raw athletic ability can carry players far at most other positions, a quarterback has to be fully and completely immersed in being the best quarterback he can be. Making the throw is the easy part. Figuring out where to deliver the ball after comparing the play called by the sidelines against the pre-snap defensive alignment and deciding while the play clock counts down through single digits whether to change the play and trying to predict which of the defenders might blitz and which ones might not and then taking the ball and trying to notice and process the movements of eleven large, strong men while scanning for teammates who might or might not be doing what they’re supposed to be doing while making sure that one or more of the defensive players hasn’t broken free with designs on breaking his neck is the hard part. Cable mentioned that Russell is “motivated to not be a failure, to not be the kid from Mobile that couldn’t get it done.” As we see it, fear of failure isn’t enough, because it’s easy to accept failure when you’ve got millions in the bank telling you otherwise. Great quarterbacks have an unflinching desire not to “not fail,” but to be great. It’s a passion that permeates everything they do. They assume ownership of the fate of the team, and they become fully and completely emotionally invested in whether the franchise rises or falls. Though we can debate endlessly whether NFL players should be expected to attend optional workouts, the ones who truly aspire to be great don’t view it as work -- they view it as an opportunity to achieve the goals they’ve set for themselves. We’re not writing Russell off just yet. But whether it’s him or Matt Leinart or Vince Young or Brady Quinn or any other former big man on campus who is content with being rich and moderately famous, it takes something deeper than that to drive a man to make the kind of commitment required to be a truly great NFL quarterback.