One of the biggest revelations or claims (depending upon your allegiance and point of view) to come out of Al Davis' public firing of Lane Kiffin on Tuesday was the notion that the former Raiders coach was not 100 percent behind the selection of JaMarcus Russell with the No. 1 overall pick in 2007.
"Every day it was different, that's the thing; he didn't want Russell," Davis said. "At one time, he wanted Brady Quinn. At one time, Calvin Johnson. At one time, to trade (the pick)."
The quarterback Kiffin really wanted, other stories have claimed, was Trent Edwards of Stanford. He wanted to pair a dink-and-dunk West Coast offense-style quarterback with a game-breaking wide receiver like Johnson.
Surely such talk would irk Oakland's purported franchise quarterback, no?
No. Russell, who took heat for not sticking around to address the media following Sunday's 28-18 loss to San Diego and was gone when reporters gained access to the Raiders' locker room Wednesday, defended his former coach Thursday.
"It just kind of came out of nowhere," Russell said of Davis' assertion. "I really don't think myself, or coach Kiffin, or anybody else were looking for that to come out that way."
So does Russell think it's true?
"I don't know, I really don't," he said. "It really doesn't matter right now. It was said. Can't do anything about it. It's done. You just move on. (But) if it was to be true, it would just give me fuel to keep on going."
The defending-his-coach part of the conversation? Well, toward the end of his 20-game tenure, Kiffin went out of his way to promote Russell's in-game performances and seemed to be on board with Russell as his signal caller.
"That's what I said, so you never know which way to take that," said Russell, who has thrown for 668 yards, four touchdowns and an interception on 54 of 99 attempts, a passer rating of 84.9.
"I appreciate the opportunity he gave me to play in the National Football League (and) wish for him to go out and get him a job, because he's a good guy, a good coach. I don't look for him to sit around long. He should be able to get a job somewhere."
On Wednesday, Kiffin told Sirius NFL Radio's "Movin' The Chains" program that Russell had "a great future."
"He's going to do great things as they continue to develop their receiver group around him," Kiffin said. "There's been a lot of shake-up in that group from injuries and different people coming in and out. He's going to continue to improve."
Interim coach Tom Cable said he would ride with Russell under center.
"First of all, I love JaMarcus Russell; he's our quarterback, and I got no issues with the guy," Cable said. "Whatever all that (Davis-Kiffin drama) is, I'm not going there.
"I'm married to (Russell), so let's go."
Call The Bee's Paul Gutierrez, (916) 326-5556.
