In the beginning of this decade the Oakland Raiders were one of the best teams in the NFL with arguably the best offense in the league.  Not only did the Raiders have two of the best wide receivers of all-time in Tim Brown and Jerry Rice, but they also had one of the best quarterbacks in the league with Rich Gannon behind center.
 
The combination of Gannon, Rice and Brown, two of which are hall of famers, the Raiders will a big time force to be reckoned with in the AFC, but once these players decided to retire and Oakland lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2003 Super Bowl the franchise started to fall apart and the Raiders quickly became one of the worst teams in the NFL.  Ever since that Super Bowl loss to the Bucs and former head coach Jon Gruden, the Raiders have been tried to replace their hall of famers, but have been unsuccessful in their rebuilding efforts and as a result have failed to get back to dominant status in the AFC.
 
After the 2003 Super Bowl appearance, here are how the Oakland Raiders seasons have gone in terms of regular season records:
 
2004 season: 5-11 
2005 season: 4-12 
2006 season: 2-14 
2007 season: 4-12 (drafted JaMarcus Russell with number one pick) 
2008 season: 5-11 (JaMarcus Russell’s first full season as the starting quarterback)
 
Oakland Raiders’ quarterbacks of the last six seasons (nine total): Rich Gannon, Kerry Collins, Marques Tuiasosopo, Aaron Brooks, Andrew Walter, Josh McCown, Daunte Culpepper, JaMarcus Russell and Bruce Gradkowski.  As you can see, the Oakland Raiders have not been even to settle for starting quarterback for the past six seasons since losing Rich Gannon to retirement in the 2004 season.  The sad thing is that most of these quarterbacks at one time or another were great starting quarterbacks in this league, especially Kerry Collins and Daunte Culpepper, but they were unable to do anything in their time with the lowly Oakland Raiders.
 
In 2007, it seemed like there was finally hope for the future for the Raiders as they drafted a franchise caliber quarterback in LSU’s JaMarcus Russell.  In Russell the Raiders were getting a six foot six inch 260 pound quarterback with an absolute cannon for arm.  The quarterback position seems to be evolving as of late as they keep getting bigger and faster and JaMarcus Russell was a perfect example as he had the big body and the arm, but wasn’t the quickest of quarterbacks.
 
Russell got a lot of comparisons to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, but unlike Big Ben in Pittsburgh, Russell has been nothing, but a draft bust so far in just three seasons in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders.  Coming into this season the Oakland Raiders had high hopes as they thought that this was the season that JaMarcus Russell was going to come into his own and become the face of the franchise, but things haven’t worked out as Russell has become more of a problem behind center than what they have expected him to be.
 
This season JaMarcus Russell has put up pitiful numbers in the 10 games he has played in with just 1,138 passing yards, two touchdowns and 10 interceptions.  Needless to say, the Raiders have decided that Russell will most likely not be in their long term plans and have decided to bench him in favor of backup Bruce Gradkowski.
 
In just the three games Bruce Gradkowski has started this season he has led the team to two wins over very good teams in the Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Once it was obvious that Gradkowski looked to be future of the franchise at quarterback, at least for the time being, he goes down with what appears to be a season ending injury to both knees.
 
Despite Gradkowski’s injuries and unless the Raiders decide to pick up a free agent quarterback in the offseason, I believe the JaMarcus Russell era in Oakland is over and the Raiders will either pursue a trade or just cut the former number one draft pick out of LSU.

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