In the 2007 NFL draft, the Raiders took JaMarcus Russell with the first overall pick, and the Lions took Calvin Johnson second. Russell turned out to be a major bust, while Johnson became the best receiver in the NFL.
The Raiders’ coach at the time was Lane Kiffin, and he now says he wanted Megatron, while the late Raiders owner Al Davis insisted on Russell.
Kiffin told Sports Illustrated that he begged Davis to take Johnson, sign quarterback Jeff Garcia in free agency, and give him a team he could win with. Instead, Davis saddled Kiffin with Russell and declined to sign Garcia, who ended up signing with the Buccaneers and having a very good 2007 season in Tampa Bay, throwing for 13 touchdown passes and just four interceptions.
With Garcia throwing to Johnson, the Raiders might have had a team good enough for Kiffin to keep his job. Instead, the Raiders went 4-12 in 2007 and fired Kiffin after a 1-3 start in 2008, with Davis saying at the time that part of his reason for firing Kiffin was that Kiffin didn’t believe in Russell. Davis had a slightly different story than Kiffin at the time, however: Davis said that Kiffin couldn’t decide what he wanted to do with the pick, alternating between wanting Johnson, wanting Brady Quinn and wanting to trade the pick.
But no one disputes that Kiffin knew Russell was going to be a bad pick, and Davis took him anyway. Kiffin sounds like he still wonders how his NFL coaching career would have turned out differently if the Raiders had drafted Johnson.
