Former No. 1 draft pick JaMarcus Russell says he’d play for free on an NFL scouting team

JaMarcus Russell doesn’t want to be remembered as an NFL bust.

But the former Oakland Raiders quarterback knows that’s the label he earned as No. 1 overall draft pick who was out of the league after three seasons.

So even though he hasn’t played in six seasons, Russell has an offer for NFL teams.

“I can be the waterboy, work my way into the scouting team, it doesn’t matter,” Russell said on a video released by Sports Illustrated. “I’ll go play for free.”

Russell went 7-18 as Oakland’s starter, completing 52.1% of his passes with 18 touchdowns and 23 interceptions before getting cut before the 2010 season. He lost weight and tried to make a comeback with the Chicago Bears in 2013 but didn’t make it to training camp.

According to Sports Illustrated, Russell sent letters to all 32 teams last off-season offering his services. The video shows a copy of the letter he mailed to the Dallas Cowboys, in which he offered to run the scouting team for a year without anything in return other than consideration for future job with the organization.

“I know that my name does not carry much weight in the NFL right now, but I am more than the image that others have bestowed upon me,” he wrote. “I’ve been labeled as a bust, I have been labeled as lazy and I have been the target of many insults by the media. The blame for any negative press that I’ve received rests squarely on my shoulders.”

He added: “My tribulations have humbled me. I am a better man because of my struggles and I simply desire an opportunity to redeem myself. I do not want my legacy to be a trail of unfulfilled dreams and missed opportunities.”

John Wertheim, Sports Illustrated’s executive editor and a senior writer, states in the video that the 30-year-old Russell hasn’t let himself go but isn’t “in football shape” and that he sometimes talks about being ready to move on from football.

But he doesn’t seem quite ready to let go of the dream just yet.

“I think there’s plenty of room for me,” Russell said of the NFL. “I think so.”