Getty ImagesRunning back Maurice Jones-Drew isn’t going to be making nearly as much money as a Raider as he was when he was with the Jaguars, but he will get a chance to do something that other teams weren’t offering him this offseason.
He’ll get a chance to compete for playing time, something he told Adam Schein of Mad Dog Sports Radio that he wasn’t going to be given if he signed with some of the other teams that he spoke to before signing with Oakland. Jones-Drew said he narrowed that list of teams down to the Raiders, Patriots and Steelers and that he made his ultimate choice because of the opportunity to battle for carries with Darren McFadden.
“On the field, they’re going to give me a chance to compete,” Jones-Drew said. “A lot of teams had already kinda conceded that I didn’t have anything left and all these different questions they may have had. Oakland’s going to give me a chance. And they gave me a deal that shows that with incentives.”
Jones-Drew also spoke highly and hyperbolically about the team’s other offseason acquisitions, particularly when he said quarterback Matt Schaub can “definitely” lead the team to a Super Bowl. That’s not going to be a particularly popular opinion, although it doesn’t seem like that was necessarily Jones-Drew’s top priority for his 2014 home anyway.
Go Raiders 2014!
With Tuck, Schaub and now MJD as well as few other UFA I can’t recall, the Raiders will either be the biggest surprise of 2014 and become a playoff team or this will be the biggest, colossal disaster in the making.
” The retirement home. ”
…MJD leaving a team that never wins, to another franchise that never wins. At least he’s use to losing.
MJD – there giving me a chance to compete for ”worst team of the year” along with jags, browns, eagles, redskins.
It’s too early to write off Schaub and MJD. They were both stuck on trainwrecks of teams last year, and only 1-2 years ago both were dominant. I’m not willing to say they are both washed up and can’t be meaningful contributors.
Now if they can’t turn their performance around this year in Oak, then I’ll be willing to agree that they are done. But I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove me wrong.
I never thought I’d hear MJD say the Raiders are giving him a chance to compete. He was once a great back. Injuries have done him in
AFC West becoming arguably the most interesting division in football. Oakland made the smart move to dump players and free up room and now have what looks like a competitive team for the next couple years. KC is loaded with talent and Alex Smith/Andy Reid are good for 8 wins, maybe more. Denver is Denver, with Peyton and that stacked squad, and San Diego has a strong offense with a revitalized rivers. Denver wins the division, but the rest of the group is going to beat the heck out of each other
MJD wants to be on the field. He knows McFadden is just waiting to tweak something. It’s the team he loved as a kid, I wish him well.
He’ll be starting by week 4
Admittedly, I haven’t been paying close attention to the Jaguars, but didn’t this guy lead the league in rushing like 2 or 3 years ago?
And now he’s struggling to find a team that will just give him a chance to “compete” for playing time? What happened?
He hates winning.
With steady QB play we can squeeze out 9 wins this year.
The only way Schaub can lead them to the Super Bowl is if he’s driving the tour bus.
Translation “I know McFadden will be hurt before October”
What a joke. Nobody wanted him but Oaktown
Translation: Nobody else wanted to come here and were to cheap to get a big name.
GO RAIDERS! !!
MJD could have easily been the MVP a couple of years ago. He was the leading rusher in the NFL on a very bad Jags team. There was never a down when the opposing defense didn’t start their keys with MoJo.
I wish him the best with his redemption in Oak-town
Raiders should sign CJ2K ! Run to win !
MJD will have a solid year. Watch out for the Raiders, NFL.
Dream Team
good signing by the raiders. positive guy who just wants to compete and play football. thank you for coming to Oakland MJD
All the Raiders are offering is continued service on a piss-poor losing team.
I’d like for Oakland to grab Sammy Watkins to make this offense dangerous.
Adding Kalil Mack would definitely put some bang back into this defense.
But the biggest need might be at OT. That’s why if Robinson or Matthews is around, Oakland might need to grab them for RT because Watson hasn’t proven anything yet. Furthermore, Penn at LT is not a sure thing either. It all starts at the OL. Get holes for MJD and McFadden. Keep Schaub upright.
It’s a deep WR draft so Oakland could still grab a WR in the 2nd or 3rd round.
Also likely that both Mack and Watkins could already be gone by the time Oakland comes up at #5. See if Minnesota is desperate for a QB and wants to trade up. Drop back to #8, grab additional picks and one of the top 2 OT.