Oakland Raiders file grievance against former QB Russell

This makes absolutely no sense to me, so of course I must be talking about AL Davis and the Oakland Raiders. The team has confirmed that they have field a grievance against former QB Jamarcus Russell, seeking repayment on nearly 9.5 million dollars they have already paid him in bonus money. Why Al Davis chooses to do stupid crap like this is far beyond me. It seems that Mr. Davis has an unhealthy obsession with Russell, he made a special point to call out Lane Kiffin about Russell when it was announced that the team had fired him for cause, and now instead of letting this story die, Al wants it to be front page news again.

We might call that stupid, but maybe Davis is just crazy brilliant. At the very least we are all talking about the Raiders yet again. However I think this move is yet another attempt by Al Davis to save face. He cannot admit to himself that he made a mistake, and has to do whatever he can to justify to himself that he was right. Right now that looks like trying to regain 9.5 million dollars form Russell is his way of doing just that.

I don’t see how the Raiders can even seriously consider that Russell has to repay any of this money. He held out his rookie season to get a fully guaranteed contract, and he is no longer with the team because the team cut him. This is not like he failed to report, or is off somewhere holding out. He was cut, and he signed a fully guaranteed contract. The Raiders claim that the money was actually an advance on his salary from 2010 and beyond. I personally find that stance laughable.

Of course we may be making too much of this, Al Davis is a guy who loves a good fight. Since none seemed available to him at the moment he decided to pick one of his own.

Related Links:

•Oakland Raiders news and notes
•The Business of the NFL
•MTR Football.com