JaMarcus Russell, the first overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft, wants to return to the NFL. So far, no teams have publicly proclaimed any interest.
But according to one report, the interest is there.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network said on Tuesday’s Total Access that he was told that there is “significant interest from more than one team,” but those teams don’t want to be publicly identified as having interest in Russell because of the potential distractions that could come along with being publicly identified as a team that’s considering adding Russell. Rapoport compared it to the way teams are refraining from expressing any interest in Tim Tebow.
Of course, if any team thought Russell (or Tebow) had the potential to be a good starting quarterback, he’d be worth the distractions. The problem with Russell is that he’s never shown he can be anything close to a good starting quarterback.
Rapoport reported that Russell has lost 50 pounds, from 315 to 265, and that he’s “throwing just like he used to.” But the way Russell used to throw the football was on display in 2009, Russell’s last season, when he completed 48.8 percent of his passes while throwing three touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. With that track record, it’s hard to see why any team would have any interest.