The Oakland Raiders have filed a grievance against former quarterback JaMarcus Russell in an effort to get back $9.55 million they paid him.
“We have filed a grievance against JaMarcus Russell and that’s all we’re going to say at this time,” Raiders attorney Jeff Birren told Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports.
The Raiders will apparently contend that some of the money they already paid Russell was actually an advance on his salaries for 2010, 2011 and 2012, and that he’s not entitled to keep that money since he won’t play for the Raiders during those three seasons. Russell’s agent Eric Metz disputed the Raiders’ contention.
“The money in question was fully guaranteed. That is why JaMarcus was forced to hold out and miss all of training camp as a rookie,” Metz said. “The Raiders know that and this is our only comment.”
