Al Davis may have finally cut the chord with JaMarcus Russell but he is not done defending the former No. 1 pick.
The Oakland Raiders owner held a legendary press conference last week, where he was suppose to introduce new head coach Hue Jackson but instead Davis decided to talk about everything from Tom Cable's alleged abuse issues to the greatness of Jason Campbell.
While Davis may have spent the first five minutes of the presser espousing the values of his new quarterback, the San Francisco Chronicle's David White reports that in a side conversation with reporters Davis again defended his selection of Russell.
The former No. 1 overall pick is of course out of the league but Davis says that doesn't mean he wasn't a better pick than other players from that year's draft class that are still playing in the NFL.
Russell was chosen ahead of star running back Adrian Peterson and standout wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
But Davis doesn't care.
“JaMarcus hurt a great deal,” Davis told the Chronicle. “But the ones they wanted to take instead of JaMarcus, Brady Quinn, hasn’t played yet. There was some talk of Calvin Johnson. But you can take a look at Calvin up at Detroit. How many games did they win this year, Detroit, do you know? Six? Yeah. But up until now, Calvin hadn’t done anything for them. He had been eulogized, but he hadn’t made a lot of indelible impression on the won and lost.”
The folks in Detroit are laughing about the comment. Detroit Free Press Sports Writer Dave Birkett admits that Davis "has the same number of playoff appearances as Johnson the last four years -- zero -- is right that Johnson hasn’t been a part of too much winning in his first four NFL seasons. But Johnson did make the Pro Bowl this year."
JaMarcus meanwhile is busy defending himself in court against allegations that he enjoys sipping illegal "sizzurp."
