Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew wanted a new contract before the 2012 NFL season started after leading the league in rushing in 2011, so he did what most franchise running backs do, he held out.
Jones-Drew did not get his new deal, instead he got a high six figures fine, and a slow start to his 2012 season. All of those things into a disastrous end to his season and foot surgery.
Jones-Drew spoke on Sirius XM NFL Radio, and per ESPN made it very clear that “he won’t hold out in 2013, and he’s done lobbying for a new deal.”
“I went to them last year,” Jones-Drew said during the interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio. “It didn’t work out. I’m not going to reach out to them because, you know, I just feel like I tried that last year (and) it didn’t work.”
Jones-Drew rushed for 414 yards before going down with the infamous foot injury October 21.
“If the Jaguars want to do a new deal, I’m more than open to talk,” he told SiriusXM. “I’m not going to say I don’t want to go there. I’ve grown up there, this is where I started. I want to win a championship there.”
“I’m in the last year of my deal,” Jones-Drew told SiriusXM. “Once again, people hate this word, but it’s part of the business. You know, it comes and it goes.
Maurice Jones-Drew basically let it be known the Jaguars will franchise him in 2014, or he will walk as a free agent. It may be too late at that point to get the money he wanted.