Jaguars, Jones-Drew marriage could go on after this season

One would have to think that Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew, would be on the first plane out of Jacksonville when his contract expires after this season and sign with a contender.

A lot of us would be wrong on thinking Jones-Drew wants out. It's quite the contrary. There is talk that the Jaguars are willing to give Jones-Drew another contract. At the right price.

General manager David Caldwell would like him to come back and head coach Gus Bradley would also like him in the locker room. Jones-Drew, who many thought would be cool to the idea, actually buys in to the direction of the franchise.

"I want to be here," Jones-Drew said. "It's a fun environment. It's different than I've ever been a part of. It works. It takes time to build anything. It's starting to turn around for us, and we're starting to play well. That's exciting."  

"Seeing what I've seen and been through the business part of it, you want to work that thing out as best as possible," Jones-Drew said. "But sometimes it doesn't do that. We've seen it. Look at Peyton Manning. Who would have thought he wouldn't be playing for the Colts right now.


"It happens. Hopefully, things work out well. And if they do, we'll be back."

There is talk of the team offering Jones-Drew an incentive laden two year deal worth $10 million.

Bradley gives a lot of credit to Jones-Drew for being a professional, when he could have been a headache. Being an elite running back having to share carries with the likes of Jordan Todman, playing through injuries, and being in a rebuilding situation can make one a malcontent. Not so says Bradley.

''He's been great, he really has been,'' Bradley said. ''When you're an elite running back - he had like 1,600 yards - those guys want the ball all the time. It's a different mindset now. When you say, 'Let's try this,' he could bow up. He could say, 'What's going on?'

''And if he did do that, I would understand. He fought it a little bit, then he said 'OK.' I'm sure he's not waving pompoms and is ecstatic over it. But the truth of the matter is he's doing better.''   

I guess Jones- Drew likes where he is and that's a good thing. He understands the nature of the business and wants to be part of the change in Jacksonville.

Maurice Jones-Drew doesn't like the criticism of Blaine Gabbert

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert hasn't had too much success at the NFL level. You can say he's had too many coordinators (three since he's came in the league) or he just doesn't have it. The new coaching staff doesn't seem too hot on him either as head coach Gus Bradley has declared it an open competition.

Recently a report surfaced saying that a former Jaguars assistant had some rather unkind words about Gabbert. The unnamed assistant said that Gabbert "thinks nothing is ever his fault" and they referred to him as "Blame Gabbert".

Fair or unfair, Gabbert's backfield mate Maurice Jones-Drew took umbrage with what the former assistant had to say about Gabbert.


“For that coach to come out and say that, that’s not what a man should do,” Jones-Drew said. “You have a problem, tell it to his face. You don’t air somebody out after you’re gone. That happens too much in this league.

“It just [ticks] me off that people talk about the guy like that. I get upset about it because people think it’s easy to learn [a new playbook], let alone learn what everybody is doing around you."

What the former assistant said might be true, he should've put his name to it. There are always unnamed sources putting their problems out there for all to know. Jones-Drew is correct, say it to his face if you have a problem. At least say it when you're going out the door.

“I’m not making excuses for Blaine — he’s made mistakes of his own that for us to go places, he has to correct,” he said. “But we all make mistakes, and I feel like we haven’t supported him enough.”

“How do you expect a guy to play?” Jones-Drew said. “I don’t understand how a guy can perform at a consistent level when there’s no consistency in his [professional] life.”

Once again I believe Jones-Drew is dead on. You can't develop any consistency when you keep changing the playbook and changing coaches. Gabbert hasn't had the best success but he hasn't been put in a position to succeed. Gabbert hasn't done well on the field but the Jags haven't done any favors for Gabbert.

Jones-Drew Won't Apologize To Jay Cutler

When Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler missed the second half of the NFC championship game due to a fringe knee injury, Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew led the brigade of NFL players ripping on Cutler and calling him soft, a jake, anything that you can say that can insult a player.

Today Jones-Drew says he's not backing down from anything he said about Cutler. Jones-Drew took to Twitter when he learned that Cutler was sitting out the second half with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. I'll say this about Jones-Drew, at least he hasn't went back and said his account was hacked or he reflected upon it after x amount of time and felt he should make amends about the situation. In an interview with the NFL Network, Jones-Drew said he has no regrets.

“I don’t regret anything I do,” Jones-Drew said. “You think about everything you put out there. I’m not going to be one of those guys to say, ‘I shouldn’t have done it.’ Because I did it. I knew what I was doing when I tweeted it. I just didn’t know that many people were following me at the time.”


Asked if he had apologized to Cutler, Jones-Drew said he hasn’t seen Cutler but sees no reason that he would need to reach out.



“I haven’t gotten a chance to, but I wouldn’t apologize because I didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t think,” Jones-Drew said. “I didn’t commit a crime. I didn’t kill anyone or rape anyone or anything like that. I mean, I stated my opinion, and it seems like you get more backlash for that than committing a real crime in some sense. I feel like I didn’t do anything wrong, I just said what everybody else was thinking.”

Jones-Drew didn't do anything wrong. If he hadn't said it maybe someone else would've. I'm just glad he didn't go back on what he said and claimed it was a mistake made by someone else. Clubber Lang would be proud for being a real man in this case. The only thing I might would be disappointed with is when he said that he didn't know that many people were following him.

You're a celebrity/entertainer/athlete, you have more followers than the average person.