On May 7th, 2010 the Raiders let go to the all time worst NFL No. 1 overall pick in JaMarcus Russell. Since drafting Russell in 2007, the Raiders have nothing but set themselves up for failure. Things looked even worse when head coach Tom Cable was accused of punching and breaking the jaw of assistant coach Randy Hanson during 2009 training camp.
In a move that could be labeled as a blessing disguise, on November 19th Tom Cable had seen enough. He made the right move and benched JaMarcus Russell and named Bruce Gradkowski the starter and he led them to a win over the Cincinnati Bengals that week.
Oakland took notice they knew it was time to move forward. After drafting Russell in 2007 the Raiders drafted running back Darren McFadden in 2008 who made plenty of college highlights while at Arkansas. Through injuries and depth charts it wasn't long before critics started labeling McFadden as a bust, but he's still young and with less competition he should turn some heads this upcoming season.
Things didn't look much better in 2009 when Al Davis selected wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey instead of high profiled Michael Crabtree. DHB had one touchdown all season and Louis Murphy out of Florida seemed to be a better pick who was also taken in the 2009 draft in the fourth round had better numbers and came through for Oakland during his underrated rookie season.
Then in 2010 Al Davis surprised everyone when he selected linebacker Rolando McClain with the no. 8 overall pick after trading linebacker Kirk Morrison who led the team in tackles the past four years to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The best thing Al Davis did was a draft day trade in which he acquired quarterback Jason Campbell from the Washington Redskins and Davis eventually showed former No.1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell the door. That's it the bad times were over fans...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
