Oakland Raiders

There is no question as to who runs the worst nfl franchise. Absolutely no question. Al Davis single handedly has turned the Oakland Raiders into the laughing stock of the nfl, and to be honest, the laughing stock of sports. The man hasn't had a winning season since Rich Gannon was his qb back in 2002. That season his team went 11-5, went on to beat the New York Jets in the divisional playoffs, beat the Titans in the Conference playoffs, and then lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in super bowl 44 by a score of 48-21. In that game, the #1 ranked offense in the nfl (the Raiders) were dominated by the #1 ranked defense in the league. Rich Gannon threw a super bowl record 5 picks, in which 1 was taken to the house. However, somehow the Buc's offense, ranked 18th that year scored a whopping 48 points on the Raiders defense. Meaning that on both sides of the ball the Raiders were owned.

After that loss things became bad for the Raiders. Since then the Raiders have gone a combined 19-61 in those 5 seasons, having won less than 5 games in every season except the 2004 season when they went an awesome 5-11. They even had a year in which they went 2-14, back in 2006. They have been so bad that up until this year most free agents refused to even visit the teams complexes let alone sign with them. Al Davis is a joke, a shell of his former self, and over the last 5 years he hasn't even been able to keep his coaches around. The team has gone through 4 coaches since that super bowl year, not including the coach who coached the super bowl, Jon Gruden, who was traded to the Buc's that offseason for draft picks (I didn't know that was allowed until this trade happened). The team has gone through Bill Callihan, who went 17-18 in his 2 years from 2002-2003. They then had Norv Turner, who himself somehow lasted 2 seasons, even though he went a putrid 9-23. Then came the great Art Shell, who in his first go around, from 1989-1995 went 56-41, but this time was only able to last all of 1 year and put up that awful 2-14 season. Now they have the young Lane Kiffin, who was basically fired in the off-season but was somehow able to stick around and maintain his title of head coach, even though Al Davis has done everything in his power to undermine him. He went a great 4-12 in his only year so far.

Now in this off-season the team has decided that its only hope of regaining its former glory is by singing mediocre free agents to RIDICULOUS contracts. Example A. Javon Walker who signed a 6 year 55 million dollar contract, giving him 16 million just to sign. Remember Walker is coming off knee surgery and has had only 1 decent year since 2005. He also was only able to play in 8 games last year due to his knee. Then we have example B. Tommy Kelly who re-signed with the Raiders for a RIDICULOUS 7 year 50.5 million dollar contract, with 18.125 million just to sign. Kelly himself was only able to play in 7 games last year due to an acl tear, and even with that he has only produced 13 sacks in his 4 pro years, and a total of 166 total tackles. Those are just 2 terrible deals the Raiders have signed, but I think they illustrate the point fairly well.

Now I even have heard a rumor, from profootballtalk.com, that their #1 pick from the 2006 draft, Jamarcus Russell, the man who held out for almost all of training camp and then signed a ridiculous deal (not because the Raiders are stupid but simply because #1 picks always sign RIDICULOUS deals) is getting EXTREMELY FAT, close to 300 pounds. Russell has and will always be a big man. playing weight is 255 pounds meaning that he is a big man. He is probably the 2nd heaviest qb in the nfl to the New York football Giants Jared Lorenzen, who is listed at 285 pounds. This rumor has since been disputed, but not proven false and thus makes me think. There must be no control in this organization. The fact that their qb of the future, the man who is supposed to take this team and make something of it, is getting up in weight, even in the off-season is sad. Someone needs to take control of that man and keep him regimented. Keep him in shape all year round and make sure he is working out as much as he can. In today's nfl, as sad as it is, there is no "off-season." The pro-bowl players are those who workout each and every day and make sure that they aren't losing a step on anyone. Russell cannot become another Tank Johnson a man who just sits there eating all day. He was the #1 pick in the 2006 nfl draft, he should not be rumored, ever, to be weighing 300 pounds. This is just another example of how poor management and organization can ruin a once storied franchise.

Pictured before the weight gain occurred, but in a hilarious getup.