It’s easy to wonder why Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew wants to come back for the final two weeks of the season, after missing the last eight games with a foot injury.
But Jones-Drew said Wednesday the thought never crossed his mind.
“When things get tough losers tend to quit,” Jones-Drew said, via PaulKuharsky of ESPN.com. “For me I get paid to play football, if I can go out there and be productive and help my team, I’m all for it. Win, lose or draw whatever the record is, but I won’t go out there and put people at risk ...
“And so today is really to make sure everything is like we thought it was the last couple of weeks and kind of validate some things we seen, and if it’s that way we’ll see how it goes throughout the week.”
Both Jones-Drew and Mike Mularkey talked before he ran on Wednesday, so there’s no indication of how he responded. Mularkey said his leading rusher would be questionable for this week’s game against the Patriots.
After Mularkey’s comments Monday, which could be easily construed as questioning MJD’s willingness to tolerate pain, it’s interesting to see how this plays out.
Jones-Drew has a year left on his contract, but who he’s playing for next year (whether the Jags shop him, or have a new administration) remains very much up in the air. If they were willing to move him, risking a bigger injury in a meaningless game seems counterproductive.
And while it’s a noble sentiment for him to want to return to try to save some face for a 2-12 team, it might not make the most long-term sense for him or them.