Getty ImagesFormer No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell — widely considered the biggest bust in NFL draft history — recently shed weight and is attempting an NFL comeback.
The Jets need a quarterback. Russell was once a quarterback. And the Jets have explored the possibility of adding Russell to their offseason roster.
Per Conor Orr of the Newark Star-Ledger, the Jets had “some very exploratory, informal discussions” about the ex-Oakland Raider. The discussions took place after the firing of G.M. Mike Tannenbaum, and among members of the organization that still have their jobs.
It doesn’t sound like a signing is imminent, but Russell should come cheap, likely on a minimum-salary deal as he attempts to turn his life and football career around.
The Jets should like the sound of that. Because Tannenbaum left them with the worst salary cap situation in the league.
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That’s just gross…
The lengths the JETS would go to to make Sanchez look good….
Finally found the 2nd elephant for the circus.
Omg please god make this happen.
Yes! Please let this happen!
This story makes complete sense considering its the Jets
I think the media is just making up NY Jets stories because everybody wants to portray them as a circus.
Sometimes the jokes just write themselves, don’t they?
This is not news, just a poor attempt to grab a headline. Carry on
If any team was going to sign this bust, you just knew it would be the Jets. If the ineptitude is going to continue then it couldn’t have just been Tannenbaum. Woody and Rex are like that Jerrah dude down in Texas who keeps thinkin’ he’s smarter than anyone else.
Here we go from Tebow the good Christian boy to the drug-addicted psycho Russell.
It just keeps getting better!
Grape stuff?
Finally found someone to follow the elephants at the circus.
Is there enough supply of Purple Drank in the New York metropolitan area?
Tebow and JaMarcus as back ups to Sanchez.
That’s not even funny. It’s sad that is even being considered.
Congrats to Barnum & Bailey for becoming the proud owners of their first NFL franchise!
I don’t know about anybody else, but I don’t take this organization seriously.
Mark Whalberg played a QB in that one movie, gonna give him a shot? How about Keanu Reeves? Hell, Golden Tate threw a TD for the Hawks this season. Wanna bring him in for a workout? You guys are just scraping the bottom of the jar aren’t ya?
How bad are the Jets? He could win the starting job there.
Just because he’s the biggest “bust” of all-time doesn’t mean he’s the “worst ever.” Heck, I’d go as far to say as he’s better than Ryan Lindley.
He’s gonna make a mighty fine punt protector
Once again proving the Not For Long statement wrong. Seems like once you’re in the NFL/pro sports world, you’re in. Even if you don’t get on a team your name still circulates.
Welp, time to bust my butt to get in the league. Maybe meet a Kardashian. ..Lol, if only I was brain dead for that.
Really NYJs really seriously… Why? I want to see Russell continue his career. But why would the Jets put him and Sanchez on the same team just WHY…..It really is becoming a circus. If Russell has worked hard he can be solid but NY isn’t the place unless he can sit behind a guy to learn and get in shape…
I would say Ryan Leaf was the greatest bust considering how much was traded
Wow, the perfect organization for this guy to flourish in.
Finally got a good punter protector and someone to run the wildcat
Oh wow… this is… beyond a new low
Its to bad you don’t understand that the Ryan brothers are living off their fathers reputation (Buddy) Buddy couldn’t go wrong did you ever look at what Buddy had to work with.
Go into next year with Sanchez, Tebow, and Jamarcus would be fantastic. They don’t even equal a QB.
Clearly, there is now only one missing piece of this psychotic jigsaw puzzle called the Jets roster. Paging Albert Haynesworth …
And come camptime Demarcus will trot through the rain after practice for more pics.
Ryan Leaf definitely takes the biggest bust title considering how much time he spent in and out of jail.
The only thing Jamarcus has done his overload on hamburgers and honey buns and wash it down with purple drank!
Unreal. They are just determined to not let anyone take them seriously.
Wow. They’d give him a shot before really trying Tebow in their plans after snaggin him last year? JaMarcus (who commands 2 caps in his first name alone as though he’s earned them?) has proven nothing. Tebow’s won a playoff game and was rewarded with the loss of a year of his life/career just so he could be yet another sideshow in the NYJ circus. NY Jets and Dallas Cowboys are the MAD magazines’ of the NFL. Complete parody’s of real NFL teams.
How long till the Jets fans start burning Woody Johnson effigies outside the Jets business offices ?
Every time you think there couldn’t be a bigger facepalm moment for Jets nation lol
It’s almost hard to believe these Jets stories now. But as a Dolphins fan I smile and laugh everytime I read one.
Signing a guy for cheap with no signing bonus or guaranteed money is a no risk proposition for an NFL team. You can laugh if you want, but the Jets have a good defense and desperately need a quarterback. Leave no stone unturned.
I don’t know if anyone picked Tebow up but I hope he has such a wonderful career. Just to burn the jets butts. They didn’t even try to use him because they said he sucked? He didn’t suck at Denver. I really do hope he can do good in the nfl since no one gave him a chance even when he proved himself with denver. I like the underdogs. I also was a big fan of Doug Flutie who had some great games in the nfl but yes he wasnt an elite qb but I pulled for him so much
Truly a match made in heaven – or New Jersey.
If this were a movie script, it would be rejected for being too preposterous.
maybe tebow should learn how to throw
The picture of him rocking the Hamburglar hoodie sure is appropriate.
In reality I don’t know who’s worse Sanchez or Russell. I’ll say one thing ,no matter who they bring in, Sanchez will be the most expensive back up in the NFL.
Still better than Sanchez
As long as Rex is the ring leader of this circus, Jets will continue to give us fans more laughs and I hope they don’t believe Jamarcus is suppose to challenge Mark cause it could backfire and I would be concern Jamarcus bad habits will rub off on Mark and make him worse..this is not progress for the Jets.
I’m short, fat, and ugly. Does this mean I have a chance to play in NFL if the Jets sign me?
Man how pissed does Tebow gotta be. For the Jets to sign JaMarcus Russell and to cut you would be adding insult to injury. Not that Tebow is that good but Sanchez and especially Russell are flat out horrible. But hey ESPN can have 3 former Jets Head Coaches (Along with Herm Edwards and Eric Manginni) when Rex gets canned next season. They will be the new 3 stooges.
So they’ve gone from trying to get off Revis’ island to exploring planet Jamarcus? I think their compass is broken.
Baha. The Jets have officially become a caricature of themselves. What a joke. Guess they’re determined to live up to all the cracks about being a circus– this clown will fit right in. Somebody pass the popcorn.
If Sanchez hadn’t been dating underage girls none of this would be happening..
Still, I refuse to believe Jamarcus Russell is capable of a comeback. There’s no way.
Ryan Leaf is going to be brought in on a work release program
Who came up with this bonehead idea? The new GM or Woody Johnson?
All we need now is that Ryan Leaf announces that he is coming out of retirement and early release? from jail? and we are good to go.
If he can come back and be successful after all this, god bless him. I would truly love to see it.
They Jets explored JaMarcus Russell? That must have been some expedition! I hope they were smart enough to bring plenty of food and water for when the exploration party traversed his midsection. That must have taken weeks!
Let me get this straight: They have talked to THIS schlep and bypassed Vince Young?! I don’t think very highly of Vince, however he MUST be a better and inexpensive shot-in-the-dark than Jumbo Russell!! If he is not, then there must be something REALLY wrong with VY!!
Oh man as a Jet fan please pray for my sanity. But seriously forget Manish and Cimini and the rest of the NY media. They’ll do whatever they can to pile onto the poor Jets at this point.
I would like to see the Jets sign him and bump him to second string just to hear Tebow curse. Awesome.
And I thought the circus couldn’t get any worse.. On a serious note, the Jets make me sick. Obviously they need a new QB but C’MON MAN! You’re doing this for headlines obviously and this is beyond pathetic!
The Jets thought they were going to explore India, but they landed in JaMarcus Russell instead.
The exploration party has been gone for weeks and they’ve only mapped a tiny portion of the east side of the land mass.
From Sanchez to Tebow to Jemarcus Russell. I mean it goes from bad, to worse, to the worst. All they need now is to sign any QB that just played in Arizona this year as well…
They’ve only partially explored him as they haven’t had time to fully circumnavigate his circumference yet.
Maybe he’s the missing piece that’ll get the Jets to the super bowl ha ha ha
Just bring in T.O.!!!
He’s in better shape and will be better at age 58 than Russell will be at age 28!!!
Plus, Owens played for morninwheg in SF & Philly.
Wat if he come back and start ballin? He will go 0-2 vs the pats but if he can win 9 games in the afc Least then maybe the can be ok…i hate the jets but I kno they got weapons rex ryan need to retire and go to the wwe so he be the superstar he wanna be he a great coach but he not coachin like he was those first 2 years u aint never seen bill doin dat stuff…he need to coach keep revis feed santonio draft a rb and at least 2 wrs they got lucky wit landry awesome player…sooo yea I hope he workin hard he played real nice at lsu…maybe just maybe #patsnation
Beautiful!
Jumbo Jet.
Of course they have.
Guaranteed that 5-10 other teams had these low level, no committal convos with russel after he announced a comeback but the only team they report is the Jets cause they want to put the circus label on them.. gotta love that honorable journalism
The Jets have explored JaMarcus Russell and it only took them 3 months to sail from one end to the other.
” Widely considered the biggest bust in NFL draft history…..” Was that MEANT to be funny ?????
No way was that dude worse than Akili Smith. Check the stats. Or watch the game film. Akili Smith had Russell-like work ethic with less talent.
Rex Ryan on the Jets-Giants game in late December of 2011: “I never came here to be little brother to anyone.”
Maybe not intentionally, Rex – but you certainly have become the Giants’ little brother, in that embarrassing Billy Carter kind of way.
This just keeps getting better
Suppose Russell was what Cromartie meant when he said Sanchez just needed some help? How low has Sanchez gotten if his motivation and mentoring has went from Tebow (awful) to Russell (worst)?
That’s why the Jets are where they are!
The Jets have reached that point where any story, no matter how rediculous, can seem to be legit.
JaWalrus was never an NFL QB, despite having played the position. (I had never seen a QB waddle before.)
Can’t wait to see Rex’s oversized Jamarcus tattoo!
This team keeps getting dumber and dumber, beyond ridicule at this point, the owner should sell the team.
Ryan Leaf will be out soon; probably best to hold on and wait for him.
I’m actually starting to feel bad for Jets fans!
Point and laugh
saw this article and spit my oatmeal all over my monitor, lmao !!!! seriously, can the jets change their name to the comedy club? oops, that names been taken. go get JaBustus. then rex can play center for sanchez, with JaBustus as a backup, youll be superbowl bound ROFLMAO!!!!!!! while your at it, give tim “cant throw” tebow some pom poms, he can be a cheerleader. we’ve all heard the term, “leave no stone unturned”, but i think the jets saying should be “we’re stoned”.
Not exactly the place to turn a career around..
By “explore” Im assuming you mean that the Jets bought a map, rented a ship ,and sailed across his vast belly.
Given the Jets cap situation and their difficulties at this position, it would be irresponsible of them not to at least consider Russell. They should consider anyone who might be willing to work cheap. They should bring him in if he shows anything at all. They need 4 or 5 QBs in camp anyway. He sure as hell could throw it on a rope when he was with Oakland.
I’m not sure how this should surprise anyone I guarantee that at least 25 other teams have “discussed” the guy ,he’s still young still has all the talent he had before and will come for pennies so why wouldn’t every team “discuss” it ?
No one ever doubted the talent it was his fat ass and lack of anything between his ears.
Water, auger and of course purple
Exploring this stiff should be grounds for dismissal for any GM.
Makes you wonder if the Jets are in the business to win football games or sell newspapers.
The Jets keep getting awesomer and awesomer.
Just trade Revis ,and go back to being the same ol jets ,Woody Johnson giving Jerry Jones a run for the money as for the next Al Davis
You would think that the Jets would learn, but they keep running their collective heads into a brick wall.
I remember the days when Jets fans used to say, we were a half away from the Superbowl. What Happened?
Comedy at its all time best, let the hilarity begin.
Russell had terrible pocket awareness just like Sanchez, but he never did master the butt fumble. Now’s his chance to learn from the best.
They tried signing a guy that can’t play QB to play QB last year and it didn’t work. Meet the new Jets, same as the old Jets.
O please no
It was either Jamarcus or Ryan Leaf for the Jets. But since Leaf was just sent back to prison, so it’s Jamarcus.
The jets are being run by some total idiot when it comes to personnel. First they pick Tiny Tim Teblow, the most incompetent excuse for an NFL quarterback ever to disgrace the NFL and now they want to check out Jerky Boy Russell the biggest mistake Al Davis ever made. I hope the jets are stupid enough to bring this worthless piece of garbage to their team, it will be fun to read about how they made a big mistake, like they did with Tiny Tim.
Of course as a Raider fan it would be fun to watch the Raiders play the jets with Jerky Boy under center so the Raiders can give him some sack time payback.
“Biggest bust in NFL draft history”? How can you do this to Ryan Leaf? It’s all he had left.
Guess he blew his “32 Million dollars” and is now “broke”
Hey, NYJ, Kordell Stewart said he’s looking for a job too.
2 Quarterbacks = NO Quarterbacks
I just can’t believe this story, especially without a single source to back it up. This leads me to believe the media really is just making stuff up to make the Jets look bad because that is what sells.
Good – the second best thing for Sanchez is to have another high profile QB waiting in the wings behind him.
He responded so well to that last season.
The best thing for him would be to have his head coach guarantee a Super Bowl.
They really don’t want to get better,do they?
WOW – everyone want to be like “Mike” (or I should say, Russell, RG3, Colin)…
I said it before, it takes a very special player to be able to run an offense like these guys. Trying to “force” the matter isn’t going to work.
Not to mention J.Russell isn’t known for his mobility as much as these other players. Are we now just stereotyping?
This was something discussed and dismissed before we even had a GM in place… but hey, it got all the Jets haters all riled up, so good for you.
Does sizzurp boy ever lose the hoodie? Poser, and not even a very good one. But he chunk that ball a country mile.
The last time someone explored Jamarcus Russell the expedition lost 3 men
This headline makes it sound like the Jets are “exploring” a planet or something.
All of you laughing at the Jets and JaWalrus are off. They desperateley need an offensive tackle people!
i guess desperate times call for desperate measures.
“offensive tackle”…that is good.
But you know, there is some odd truth to that. I mean what prevents him from doing something like that?? He knows the game, has good feel for a big man, and I bet he would be a great offensive lineman. Funny idea, but I bet it could actually work!
O… K. At the very least he’ll be like an oppositely polarized anti Tebow magnet and push last years brilliant QB experiment out the door faster. Worst case scenario he hands Tebow a cup of Kool Aid.
Of course the Jets have taken a look at JaMarcus.
Ryan Leaf was a bigger bust than JaMarcus. Go compare their stats. As bad as Russell was, Leaf was much, much worse.
Todd Marinovich is upset at not being included in the “Biggest draft bust” comparisons.
My interview would have gone something like this: Mr. Russell, how much of the money you were previously paid do you have remaining? What makes you think you will now do better for the much lesser amount we are offering?
I thought Oakland was a bad orginization once or twice but the JETS have officially taken that title…
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: the NY Jets – Joe Namath + 50 years of misery.
Russell may have screwed up, but its not all his fault. When you got Al Davis drafting for you its hard. Ya I know he didn’t put in the work, Either does Carson Palmer. And giving Russell a chance to play isn’t the worst thing in the world.