Four More Years! Four More Years! Jaguars Re-Up Maurice Jones-Drew
April 16, 2009 – 6:05 am by Bunk
As a huge fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I can’t say I’m too fond of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags have more or less owned the Steelers this decade, including beating them in the Wild Card Round of the 2007 playoffs. 2008 was a massive disappointment for Jacksonville.
David Garrard didn’t come close to living up to that mega-extension that he had received prior to the season, and a few injuries and close losses later and the Jags quickly found themselves out of contention and bickering internally. But that was the past and hope springs eternal this time of year not just for baseball clubs. NFL teams also feel like they’re just a few smart personnel and draft decisions away from immediate contention.
Often time that’s the case, most recently and notably with the Dolphins improving by a good 10 games from one year to the next. For the Jaguars, they’ve hitched their wagon more squarely to RB/KR Maurice Jones-Drew, offering him a reported 4-year $32 million dollar deal that makes him one of the higher paid RBs in the National Football League. MJD joined KLAC in Los Angeles to talk about the deal and being ‘the guy’ in Jacksonville now that Fred Taylor is no longer on the team splitting carries with Jones-Drew.
On if he’ll feel the pressure now that he’s being paid like a feature, marquee back:
“Really, I didn’t know that? That’s pressure I guess.”
As the conversation switched to the upcoming Draft, Drew was asked if he still had a chip on his shoulder for not being a 1st Round pick:
“I still hold it you know. It wasn’t anything else other than I tried to find a way to motivate myself, but I think a lot of players try to do that. So that was my way of motivating myself and thinking all these teams passed up on me and my way to kind of get back was to work hard and improve myself on the field each and every game and every day.”
After hearing some noises from what sounded like a car, the guys at KLAC asked MJD if he had just gotten himself some new wheels after signing the big contract:
“No, man! I’m riding this hoopty from UCLA. Us poor folks, I’m riding this 1968 Toyota.”
Listen here to MJD on KLAC in Los Angeles
Tags: 2009 NFL Draft, Jack Del Rio, Jacksonville Jaguars, KLAC, Maurice Jones-Drew, MJD gets contract extension, NFL contract extension, NFL interrviews, NFL offseason
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