With former Buccaneer Jeff Garcia signing with Oakland on Tuesday, we have to wonder what this means for current starter JaMarcus Russell. Is this a move to ensure that there’s a proven back-up behind the young quarterback, or is it a sign that the Raiders are actually bringing in some competition for the former first-round pick? Matt Bowen
With former Buccaneer Jeff Garcia signing with Oakland on Tuesday, we have to wonder what this means for current starter JaMarcus Russell. Is this a move to ensure that there’s a proven back-up behind the young quarterback, or is it a sign that the Raiders are actually bringing in some competition for the former first-round pick?
What the signing says
It says the Raiders are serious about the quarterback position, for starters.
Jeff Garcia is a proven winner in the NFL, and whether you want to believe it or not, JaMarcus Russell isn’t — yet.
This move makes the Raiders better — even stronger — at the quarterback position. I’m not sure what’s going to transpire in terms of who will be under center by midseason, but in signing Garcia, the Raiders showed me that they’re bringing in good players at the most important position on the field.
Think about it this way: Russell is your starting quarterback. Your team went 5-11 in 2008. Why not upgrade the position with a veteran who has proven, for multiple franchises, that he can win football games when asked? Why not bring in a guy who doesn’t turn the ball over, can make plays with his feet in the pocket and can run an offense in a high-pressure game in December and January?
Makes sense to me. Russell or not, this is a good quarterback to have on your roster, and by brining in Garcia to wear the silver and black, the Raiders became better as a football team — and that’s what the offseason is for. You bring in players through the draft and free agency who force players to compete in practice every day.
Sure, Garcia is old (39), he doesn’t throw the football 80 yards through the air and he doesn’t have the physical gifts of Russell. He struggles throwing the deep out, and when you line them up next to each other, Russell is the better quarterback for the offensive system in Oakland.
But Garcia can play the game, and he can win — and that’s going to force Russell to compete.
How Garcia breeds competition in Oakland
Here’s the thing about JaMarcus Russell that bothers me:
He was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2006 draft. He’s the first guy you want to walk off the bus on game day, and he’s the guy who made scouts and coaches alike fall in love with him after a beat down of an overrated Notre Dame team in the ’06 Sugar Bowl. And then he turned heads because he looked good in shorts and T-shirt at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
Everything he has in the NFL was given to him. He has never had to compete on a professional level for anything. And now, with Garcia in the picture — whether Raider Nation wants to admit it or not — Russell is going to have to prove to the owner, the coaches, the fans and his teammates that he’s the best quarterback on this football team.
Yes, I understand that he is automatically the frontrunner and that the Raiders will publicly say at one point or another during this offseason and into training camp that he’s their starter, but they would be kidding themselves if they didn’t bring in Garcia for a reason.
That reason — beyond making their entire team better — is to push Russell. They want Garcia to put some heat on the young quarterback. They want to see how this former first-round big-bonus player does when someone else is making plays in practice. Does he respond? Does the competition bring the best out in him, or does he regress with the pressure turned up a notch?
Think about it, because Russell isn’t Tom Brady, he isn’t Peyton Manning, he isn’t even Kyle Orton at this point in his career. He hasn’t won football games that matter at the NFL level, and until he does, competition — good competition from a veteran winner — is probably the best thing for his development.
Competition supposedly brings out the best in every player. Now we just have to wait and see what it brings out in Russell.
Is Russell the starter come September?
Most likely, because the Raiders — as much as they want to push Russell — still want him to be the starter. I’m not saying he doesn’t have the tools to be a dominant quarterback in this league, but until he shows us he can use those tools on Sundays, he’s still unproven.
But we all understand that, just as we understand that first-round picks — especially the first guy taken in the entire draft — are going to get many chances to play because of the money invested in them.
Even Garcia knows that. He knows he was brought to Oakland to compete for the job but most likely will watch from the sideline and will only get on the field if the Raiders pull the plug on the entire Russell project. He will be a back-up on the depth chart, and he will be a back-up when head coach Tom Cable talks about the quarterback position to the media. But that doesn’t mean it will always be that way.
Remember, of all the quarterbacks in this league, Garcia is the last guy I would ever count out of a battle. The guy has been shown the door by many teams, has always been thought of as a guy who could get you wins, but he was never a guy you wanted to pay like a big-time quarterback. However, he keeps coming back.
We all know that Russell is the man in Oakland, but for his sake, he should probably get ready to play — daily — this offseason because Garcia is going to be coming for his job.
Russell is going to be a bust.
I know that Al loves the deep ball, but can this guy really lead a team for an entire season?
I agree that the Sugar Bowl win over ND had a lot to do with him moving up the draft boards. Guy was just a mid-round QB before that game.
I think this is the year Russell has a break out season and the Raiders show up as a much better football team they we all think.
McFadden will be in his second season, and I doubt we ever hear Garcia's name after September starts.
Good back-up and nothing more.
JaMarcus Russell and Vince Young look to be the jumbo box of Michael Vick Flakes.
They've got Cadillac arms and Chevette heads.
If you can't assimilate the offense, you've got no chance of leading your teams.
Look at the photo of Russell. Does Peyton Manning listen to music while practicing?
I guess it's a good way to avoid listening to the coaches.
It's too bad there isn't a wing in the hall of fame for players like Garcia, who spent an entire career proving people wrong (othen than Walsh, who he proved right).
Scot,
Not a bad idea about Garcia.
Every team he goes to, they are looking for his replacement the moment he signs a contract. I still think he has another good year left in him and can step in and play if Russell turns into the ultimate bust in Oak Town.
It could look real bad for Al if Garcia is his starting QB this year... a PR nightmare.
When I saw the headphones on it really irked me. You need to make passes into rhytm throwing for timing and read routes.
That means you have you an internal clock going and your feet match the clock. Playing a beat over that is a distraction.
Unless you play crowd noise on the headphones, perhaps.
Russel is big and can take a hit, that should translate toughness(the no 1 needed attribute). To match that he needs to develop urgency which would help timing so his great arm can actually be in the game plan.
Cadillac arms and Chevette heads, that's good. Maybe the Lions coach can use that one in practice and games for his home town fans.
The only bust of the 2006 draft at QB is Brady Quinn. All these people calling Russell a bust are he same ones calling for Quinn to go number one that year. NFL teams did not agree with you.
Russell has a long ways to go but over his final 6 games played last year out played 80% of the QB's in the NFL. His QB rating, completion %, TD to picks and win loss record 3-3 was not bad for a first year starter with no tackles or wide receivers, 2 head coaches and 3 play callers. This kid is going to set the NFL on it's ear with time.
Sonny,
I can see where you are going with those stats, but those happened in games that had no meaning as the season was already a bust for the Raiders.
Let's see what he does with an experienced QB battling him and the possibility that he could be pulled if he doesn't produce on Sundays.
easy to play when you know their is no one behind you and a win or loss doesn't mean anything when you have been out of the playoff race for two months. I want to see this kid play when the pressure is on.
Men of Troy, if you look at the last few games they won, they were against playoff contending teams, the Broncos and the Bucs. And the Broncos were led by who? Jeff Garcia. JaMarcus easily outplayed Garcia on the last game of the season and knocked Garcia and the Bucs out of the playoffs. So let's not talk about Garcia being able to handle pressure better when the season's on the line.
Never said that Garcia was the answer if you read my post.
What I am saying is that Russell will have to perform in games that matter to the Raiders now that they have a capable backup...
A lot different than what you said.
It is what it is. He beat a playoff hopeful in a game that had meaning to it, on the road. It was also a comeback win(only down a FG, but that is still good to do against their defense).
The game showed he turned the corner.
Now, can he develop past that or does he plan on starting from where he finished? This kind of move might help him develop the urgency necessary.
Ironically it is the QB whose team we beat last year in that same game.That's the way things play out in the NFL.
RE: The headphones. Does it look like he's playing a game or in a scrimmage? To me it looks more like he's warming up before practice or a game. Maybe that's how he gets up for a game.
Anyhow, Garcia is a great backup to have on your team. I kind of feel for the guy being bounced around the league his whole career. But then, i only know what I see on Sunday of him, he could be a terrible pain in management's rear end too.
Either way, Raiders are facing a 6 - 10 or 7 -9 season, max. Still an improvement, but they're not going to the playoffs with either QB this year.
Look, coming from a Raiders fan..I am skeptical of JRuss, but I am giving him his time. He has only started 16ish games and was looking better in the last 6 games last year. In years previous, the Raiders would have imploded and lost the last 6 games as the players were booking their vacation plans. I look for them to be 8-8 overall, hopefully 4-4 in division. This is not good enough for the playoffs, but it is moving forward. I am optimistic for the first time in several years...
Last year Russell was the youngest QB in the league, and yes, younger than Ryan and Flacco. His first year as a starter ranks quite well compared to other great QB's in their first year. This idea that Russell is a bust because he didn't take the Raiders to the Super Bowl in his first year is absurd. No one mentions that every WR on the team was injured last year, not named Higgins, and he is not principally a WR although he might become one. The running game was a mess with McFadden essentially out most of the year and Fargas injured late in the year. Please put some perspective into the argument.
I have no idea whether Russell will be great or not but I do know that it is a little premature to be calling him a bust. A great deal is being made of Cable's remarks about Russell having to work harder, he was saying that last year half way through the season and indicating at the same time that Russell was spending more time in the film room. As an aside, Stabler spent more time in the bar than in the film room and that worked out just fine.
I believe JaMarcus would breakout this year......This move would hopefully light a fire under him, although it has the potential to do the opposite....we'l see what he has.
I think Jeff Garcia actually helps Russell a lot. Not only from the standpoint of competition, but also from the standpoint that Garcia will prove to be a valuable mentor to him as well. I've always liked Jeff Garcia because every job he's had, he's fought like hell for. This was a great signing by Oakland.
I'm another Raiders fan who is concerned about Russell's commitment. But I think that people are giving up on him way too soon. The fact is that Russell was under tremendous pressure most of last season. He rarely had time to set up and find his receivers (and when he did, they were the worst group of receivers in the league). When Russell did have time to pass -- after Mario Henderson stepped in at left tackle -- he was a different guy, throwing strikes down the middle of the field. I agree that Garcia will push him, but don't expect Russell to roll over.
There is no Quarterback controversy in Oakland.
Russell is the starter and Garcia the back up.
Russell made a great deal of progress in 2008. He was a rookie QB (for all purposes because 2007 was a washout due to the holdout) on a bad team.
I am still trying to figure out what guys like Bowen expected him to do.
Young QBs succeed early in their careers when they are surrounded by a good team. I would love to have seen Big Ben play QB in Oakland as a rookie behind that OL. I wonder how many Super Bowl rings he will have?
The most important thing the Raiders can do to expedite Russell's development as a QB is to put more good players around him. It will do wonders for his accuracy to have a LT who can pass block for example.
I'm not too concerned about Russell's commitment. According to insiders, he's spent a lot of time in the offseason at Oakland's Alameda complex, as he should. Then, when he was missing a couple of days at a recent workout, and media caught wind, everyone was up in arms. Fact is, he was back home because his mom was having major surgery. You see, media will portray him as fat, slow and stupid, but never write about the final six games in which he showed definite progression. And, those games did matter, Boy of Troy. Just ask Denver, Houston and Tampa. Heck, you take away a couple of blown games early in the season, and it's possible the Raiders are 7-9. Russell will be fine. I like the Garcia signing if only for the fact that they have a quality backup should Russell get hurt.
i think this will be a good signing in the long run as a life long raider fan, i remember the people who said it was too late for gannon, when he signed. if russell get's hurt then oakland will have a proven vet back up in garcia, and if he wins the starting job that will give russell a proven vet as a mentor.
Garcia needs to be used as a backup! Russell has a great arm and Jeff's getting old.
I think russell is the next steve young bt jeff garcia is NOT a joe Montanna
The raiders are my second favorite team, my whole family are Raiders fan. I think both Garcia and Russel are great Quarterbacks. They should just handle it like the Bears did with Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman.
Raiders fans are right its the rest of the country thats wrong. lol . Russell should be a lineman to block for garcia and DHB can go deep for dropped pass. Russell is worse than a leftwhich , Big arm BUST !!!!! and Mcfadden weak sauce, poor raiders fans all the 1st round bust no playoffs for 10 more years , so hold .
raiders throw the towel in.
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Apr 07, 2009
12:11 PM
Maybe this is a sign that Al Davis isn't going to hold this kid's hand anymore and wants to see results....
It is a good idea to put some pressure on this kid to see what he does with a proven winner like Garcia waiting to play.