Skins work out JaMarcus Russell (and a bunch of other free agents)

[SirClintonPortis]

Originally Posted by GhettoDogAllStars

I guess I'll never convince you that the NFL has missed on QBs, because I'll name guys like Brad Johnson, Trent Green and Tony Romo and you'll just say something about how you knew all along they were better than terrible.

First of all, talent is a "natural ability or quality of a person". Work ethic, is not something like arm strength or pocket presence.

You keep on citing flaws in talent evaluation, but you keep on missing what flaws you actually are citing and not making the actual connection between evaluating Russell and a Romo.

The difference in the flaws regarding Romo, etc were a matter of overstating lack of physical ability and lack of popular media exposure. They had, however, the mental intangibles to QB in the league. Not just from a work ethic, but instincts like pocket presence, etc.

The flaw in evaluating Russell's talent was overstating his PHYSICAL attributes and overlooking his mental areas. . People saw physical talent in Russell. They still do now. They didn't get that wrong.

They WERE wrong that he would have the work ethic to pan out.

As for actual MENTAL TALENTS, like pocket presence, he doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. It's up to him to prove he actually has the ability to go through his progressions, etc, AFTER shoring up his work ethic, IF he ever does. I'm pretty sure everyone was hollering that he was mentally talented too, but he hasn't verified that expectation either.

I wasn't into football around 2007, but I'm pretty sure a lot of people thought Russell was going to be a sure thing. You're right that people didn't evaluate Russell correctly. Incorrect in the sense that they thought he was going to be any good.

Isn't it possible the body language and play of his teammates had something to do with poor leadership and the fact they were going nowhere?

No, they played like they gave a damn when Gradkowski was in there. They still do now. He also displayed a "deer in headlights" way of playing. He took sacks after holding the ball for a long time.

You act as if the only thing that matters for success is a good QB. You act as if Russell just had to make the decision to be good, and they would have won the Superbowl, regardless of how bad the rest of the organization was.

You're extremely vague in how this "toxicity" provided such a huge disincentive for Russell to do anything that even his pride of losing the starting job and job insecurity were not enough to provide a counterincentive and start working his ass off.

Vince Young woke up in part because of that and some other reasons.