After missing out on pretty much his entire rookie season, JaMarcus Russell finally got the chance to get an entire training camp and off-season under his belt before starting last season. Didn’t work out too well as he was arguably the worst starting quarterback in the entire league a season ago. While fans and even coaches have began to lose confidence in the young quarterback, Raiders owner Al Davis hasn’t and will not let Oakland bench his apparent prized possession. In the 2008-09 season, Russell only completeed 53% of his passes while throwing 13 TD’s and 8 interceptions. On top of that, he was sacked 31 times. What did the Oakland Raiders do to help out their struggling young quarterback? They drafted … Darrius Heyward-Bey, over Michael Crabtree. I’m sure the scouts have done their job and Heyward-Bey will be a fine pro, but passing on Crabtree drew all kinds of criticism from the press.

Showing Russell that the organization has a ton of confidence in him, the Raiders then signed Jeff Garcia, who has hopes and admirations to be the starting quarterback by opening day. I’m sure most coaches would want it that way, but there is only one person who doesn’t and his opinion matters the most. Al Davis does not want to see Russell benched, but if starts off the season struggling, how long will it be before the rug is pulled from under him and Garcia is put out the field?