According to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, league sources have told him that Maurice Jones-Drew will not report to Jacksonville’s training camp on Thursday because he is unhappy with his contract situation.
The Jaguars have released a statement saying that they will not re-negotiate Jones-Drew’s contract right now which has 2 years, and roughly $9 million left.
MJD can be fined $30,000 for everyday that he does not report to Jacksonville’s training camp.
The Numbers
For the last three seasons, Jones-Drew has rushed for more than 1,300 yards each year, and also led the league in rushing last year with 1,606 yards. No other back has ran for 1,300-plus rushing yards in each of the past three years. Although Jones-Drew will be asking for a lot of money, according to the stats he is 100% worth it and the Jaguars need to get this man under contract as soon as they can if they want to be successful this year.
Fantasy Spin
In all fantasy football leagues Maurice Jones-Drew will be an early first round guy, whether it’s a PPR league or a standard ESPN/Yahoo/CBS Sports league. If Jones-Drew were to hold out this could definitely shake any league up. In my opinion there are different tiers to any position set in fantasy football whether it’s QBs, RBs, WRs, TEs, even kickers. In the RB category the first tier includes Arian Foster, LeSean Mccoy, Ray Rice, and MJD. More than likely these four guys will be the first four picks of your fantasy draft. If MJD were to holdout this season he would drop out of the first tier. After the first tier Running Backs are decent, but not elite. These are guys like Ryan Matthews, Marshawn Lynch, and Chris Johnson. Personally, if he does hold out I would drop him down many rounds in my fantasy league, and see him as just another guy. I would definitely wait to see how this plays out and try to push back your league’s fantasy draft as far as possible.
