Russell, Raiders Stay At Odds

Los Angeles Times :The days tick by. The NFL regular season draws closer. And still the Oakland Raiders have yet to sign No. 1 pick JaMarcus Russell.

“It’s horrible,” Bernice Russell, the quarterback’s grandmother, said Thursday of the waiting. “I want it to be over. I’ve watched my grandson go through all of this, and I don’t know why he has to.”

The negotiations have been sporadic, with the sticking point being how much unrecoverable bonus money the Raiders are willing to commit to the former Louisiana State star. The team has offered a deal that includes $31 million in bonuses — almost $5 million more than last year’s No. 1 pick Mario Williams received. The haggling is over the so-called skill-and-injury clause that protects guaranteed money under any scenario that leads to a player’s release, such as injury, death, or simply poor performance.

If the Raiders and Russell were unable to come to terms, he could ultimately sit out the season and re-enter the 2008 draft to be selected by another team. That’s an unlikely scenario but not impossible. The Raiders could not trade Russell’s rights, even if they wanted to, until the league year has ended, which is at the beginning of March.