First of all, let me get out the obligatory hahahahahahahahahaha, about how funny it is that the release of Jamarcus Russell solidifies as the greatest draft blunder of all time and that will forever be associated with the Raiders. Goodbye Steven Entman, goodbye Rick Mirer, goodbye Tony Mandarich and Bryan Bosworth, all of you are off the hook now and Jamarcus Russell has taken you off it. Matter of fact, this marks the only thing of note that Russell has won in his pro career.
The question is this, why does this spell bad news for the Chiefs? Well, as long as Russell was with the Raiders he was holding them back from being a legitimate team. They have picked in the top 10 in the NFL draft for the last 8 consecutive years and the team is loaded with talent. Tom Cable appears to be a decent coach and interested in actually doing things the right way, or at least as right as the Raiders can do it. Cable want's to bring back the Raiders of the '70's, a team that was elite and struck fear into the hearts of the league.
For the last couple of years I have been wondering what is wrong with the Raiders. They are loaded with talent and should not be as bad as they have been. Further, every year they will come up with a couple wins against teams that are supposed to mop the floor with a team like the Raiders. The potential is there but hasn't been realized. As a Chiefs fan this was great news and there was nothing better than to see the Raiders franchise and fans suffer.
However, there was a little bit of fear that crept into my head when Russell got benched last year and Bruce Gradkowski came in to play. The rest of the Raiders teammates finally had a QB who wanted to play and they could get behind. Not to mention, with the talent the Raiders have simply an adequate QB should be able to win 6-8 games. Then, the Raiders have recently traded for Jason Campbell whom I have always liked.
What does this all mean? Well now the Raiders who are loaded with talent have a coach who appears to at least somewhat know what he's doing, and organization that is behind him, and now a QB that will command his teammates and they will want to get behind. This is a very scary thought for me as a Chiefs fan. So what does everyone else think? Should the Chiefs and the rest of the AFC West be worried about the Raiders now?
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