After the Jaguars traded up to take quarterback Blaine Gabbert with the 10th overall pick in the 2011 draft, running back Maurice Jones-Drew said that incumbent starter David Garrard is “our guy and he’s always going to be our guy.”
Nearly two months later, Jones-Drew’s message is consistent.
In a Monday night appearance on NFL Network’s Total Access, Jones-Drew said that the Jaguars should have gone in another direction in round one. “I just feel like what we needed as an offense wasn’t a new quarterback, we just needed another year amongst each other because we had a lot of new players come in,” Jones-Drew said. “You see a team like the Patriots or the Steelers or the Colts, those guys [have] been in the same system for the 10, 12 years together, and so that’s what we’re trying to grow right now.”
Jones-Drew has stopped short of connecting the dots into a full-blown complaint, even though the Jags could have gone a long way toward getting help for the offense by standing pat at No. 16 and not giving up a second-round pick in order to move up for Gabbert. But it’s the logical extension of the position Jones-Drew has taken, and we wonder if/when he’ll ever go the next step and openly and publicly question why the Jaguars didn’t use those picks on acquiring weapons for Garrard.
As to the topic of weapons for Garrard, Jones-Drew explained that high-profile receivers with baggage won’t be a good fit with the Jaguars. “Plaxico [Burress], because of his circumstances, what just happened, the zoo is going to come to Jacksonville, and we don’t do that,” Jones-Drew said. “We’re kind of laid back, low key.”
Except, of course, when it comes to sharing strong opinions about guys like David Garrard and Plaxico Burress.