Maurice Jones-Drew isn’t getting a new contract from the Jaguars, so the Jaguars aren’t getting Maurice Jones-Drew.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Jones-Drew, who boycotted the team’s entire offseason program in protest of his current deal, won’t be showing up for training camp when his teammates report on Thursday.
The news comes a day after new owner Shad Khan essentially declared, as a philosophical matter, “Read my lips . . . no new contracts.”
“There’s more than 50 players under contract,” Khan told the Florida Times-Union. “There are other people under contract in management, coaches. Does that mean if you do it for one, you do it for everybody? Where do you draw the line?”
That’s easy. You draw the line on a case-by-case basis. If, for example, one of your employees led the league in rushing at a time when the offense had nothing else, you consider rewarding him.
Especially when you have $25 million in cap space.
Khan may not realize it, but he painted himself into a corner that now prevents him from ever giving a player a new contract before his current contract expires, a common practice in the NFL.
After all, if you give one person a contract extension, do you do it for everybody? Where do you draw the line?
Khan has drawn the line with Jones-Drew, and Khan is eventually going to regret it. He arguably already does.