JaMarcus Russell slims down for second chance in NFL

Draft bust JaMarcus Russell looks to be making a comeback with recent weight loss.

A photo posted on Twitter by trainers at TEST Academy shows Russell standing in front of an Escalade looking trim.

Current photo of Jamarcus Russell attached...down 51 pounds... Great job #Hard Work pic.twitter.com/KjK3ZWM1Qp

— TEST FootballAcademy (@TEST_Football) June 15, 2013

The Tweet says he has lost 51 pounds, putting him below his 2007 pre-draft weight of 265. In January, he weighed in at 315.

Today's JaMarcus Russell update: He's down to 265 pounds. He began his latest comeback at 315. Still work to be done. #progress

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 28, 2013

Russell is a quarterback that needs a job. In the past, he has shown up to Raiders training camp late, overweight and out of shape. He is widely called one of the biggest draft flops in recent years. Russell has been working hard to change that.

Russell said it's important that he go to "the right place that has that veteran [he] can go sit behind'' so he can work his way back after being out of the league since the Oakland Raiders released him in May 2010.

His trainer, former quarterback Jeff Garcia, has worked with him the past ten months to prepare to restart his NFL career. Garcia said that it wasn't just his physique he needed to work on.

"We needed to get him back to thinking football, speaking football, knowing football, being a student of the game," Garcia said. "I don't know if that's ever been part of his background, to be a student of the game. That's where he needs to get to. He needs to sleep, eat, drink football. It can't be anything else if he wants this bad enough."