Oakland Raiders: A Super Bowl With Jason Campbell? Al Davis Believes So.

In December 2004, Jason Campbell led Auburn to an SEC championship and a 12-0 season—just as Cam Newton had done a month ago. Alas, Campbell’s Auburn squad was denied a shot at the National Championship game because the NCAA doubted the Campbell-led Tigers.

That’s the story of Campbell’s football career. In the suburb of Washington, D.C., the long-standing sounds of “Boo!” bombarded Campbell at FedEx Stadium nearly every other Sunday during the fall of 2009.

Yet, while Campbell stood behind a rotating carousel of matador offensive linemen, while opposing defenses went on “test drives” using Campbell as the “crash test dummy,” Redskins owner Dan Snyder and GM Vinny Cerato, attempted, multiple times, to replace him.

First with Jay Cutler.

Then with Mark Sanchez.

And finally with Leroy Calhoun, an ex-backup quarterback for Dematha High School and part-time track coach at a local DC area middle school. Not really, but you get the point.

Regardless, Campbell returned to his feet for recurring battering sessions.

Between the physical and psychological beatings in Washington, Campbell turned to former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, his mentor and close friend.

In return, McNabb signed a contract with the Redskins last off season without notifying Campbell. Nor did the Redskins notify Campbell until after the media had broken the story.

Then, the Redskins organization called Campbell and asked him not to show up at Redskins Park for spring training, or voluntary workouts, or for any other reason.

After being traded to the Oakland Raiders, former Raiders head coach Tom Cable lost confidence in Campbell after six quarters of football and benched him.

Just like in Washington, the Raiders organization lost confidence in Campbell. The Raider fans booed Campbell at home games, and nearly the entire Raider Nation, including most of the Bleacher Report writers, felt Gradkowski gave the Raiders the best 'chance of winning.’

But Al Davis believed in Campbell, so much so that he suggested to Cable that he should play Campbell, but Cable refused.

After a Gradkowski injury, Campbell led the Raiders to a three-game winning streak—the first in eight years, but that didn’t deter Cable from benching Campbell again.

But Davis was right. Campbell went on to lead the Raiders to a 6-0 record in the AFC West—and Cable is gone.

Veteran defensive tackle Richard Seymour saw in Campbell the leadership, desire, the patience, and fortitude seen in the eyes of many in the Patriots organization during their championship year.

“I’m happy for Jason. He’s been a trouper throughout this whole process. It isn’t an easy situation to handle,” Seymour said. “He could teach the prima donnas in this league a thing or two about how to handle a situation like this. Just keep grinding.”

A quarterback is like a child prodigy—it takes molding, hard work, and patience for a quarterback to reach his potential, but in the lottery that is the NFL, teams want results now.

That’s why Kurt Warner was a grocery guy one day and later a Super Bowl winning quarterback, because it takes time to develop into a great NFL quarterback. It also takes an owner with patience like Davis who believed in Jim Plunkett when most teams refused to touch him.

And in return, Plunkett went on to win two Super Bowls. Davis has similar aspirations for Campbell.

“Jason came a long way in the year 2010,” Davis said. “He reminds me of Jim Plunkett, at this particular phase in his career. I said it then and I believe it now…”

“It feels good just to see Mr. Davis go on TV and express how he feels about me as a quarterback,” Campbell said. “Just to have him in your corner, to have an owner in your corner, is just a great feeling.”

But Campbell isn’t the only Raider who Davis has confidence in. He also stood up for Darren McFadden when most of the football world—including the majority of the Raider Nation—considered him a bust.

In addition to Campbell and McFadden, Davis recently took a stand for Darrius Heyward Bey.

"Explosion," Davis said. "He can catch, he's getting better, and he's a good guy. He's going to be good."

And so are the 2011 Oakland Raiders, if Al has any say in it.