JaMarcus Russell Speaks

Former Oakland Raiders QB and No. 1 pick of the 2007 NFL draft JaMarcus Russell spoke to Sports Illustrated recently, his first public words in who knows how long. Russell was released by the Raiders in May 2010 after being benched the previous season.

The whole story is worth a read as he calls out what he says are some falsehoods out there about him.

His massive torso covered by a leopard-print cutting cape, Russell settles into the first chair at Maysville. Gray-haired proprietor Moses Packer, known to all as Black Sheep, is ready to work. Russell orders the blinds pulled. He tells the gallery they're welcome to stay, and they all do. But no one else can enter. The vertical bars on the door are fastened, the closed sign unfurled. "I'm warning y'all," says Russell, smiling, "there's gonna be some cursing." The gallery whoops. And with that, in a rumbling drawl, JaMarcus Russell begins his defense of the outstanding charges.

Apparently, he spends a lot of his time in Mobile, Alabama these days and, yes, he wants to get back into the NFL one day.