Training camp miss: RB Maurice Jones-Drew prolongs deal battle with Jacksonville Jaguars – NFL News
As expected, Jacksonville Jaguars’ running back Maurice Jones-Drew (MJD) did not show up at the opening of the team’s training camp on Thursday, sounding very much determined to stay on the holdout unless the management renegotiate terms
for him.
This appears set to prolong the impasse between the two parties and further complicate the contract matter. The RB hardly has any chance to get a new contract from the Jaguars, after the owner Shahid Khan’s statement indicated they will
not offer MJD a new deal.
Khan said:
"There's no decision here. It's his choice. There's been very little for us to do rather than wait on whatever he might choose to do.”
He added:
"There's more than 50 players under contract. There are other people under contract in management, coaches. Does that mean if you do it for one, you do it for everybody? Where do you draw the line?"
So while the owner is very much clear in his message that there is no new contract for the RB, MJD is even more serious to stay outside the team’s training activity in spite of the fact that he faces up to $30,000 in fine for each day
he misses the camp.
The player has already sat out the entire offseason programme of the team, including the mandatory three-day minicamp, which could have cost him $60,000 in fine. The Jaguars did not impose the fine on MJD over the minicamp miss and there
is no information or indication if they will fine him for missing training camp.
Nevertheless, he is unlikely to get a new deal, as clear in the owner’s latest remarks, and the situation seems to be heading nowhere amid the deadlock. The only possibility seems more realistic is that the player shuns the protest and
turns up at the camp, unconditionally.
This will leave him to serve the remaining two years of his previous contract with an opportunity to earn approximately $9 million ($4.45 million in first and $4.95 million in second year) out of the total value of the previous deal at
$31 million.
MJD is the leading rusher in the National Football League (NFL). He has rushed for more than 1,300 yards for last three consecutive seasons. This includes 1,606 yards of the 2011 season when he finished the year as the league’s leading
rusher.
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