Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew will not attend the start of mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, according to a report by Adam Schefter of ESPN. This is a bit of a surprise from what was expected, as most felt Jones-Drew would skip the voluntary portion of offseason workouts to make the point that he would like to renegotiate his contract, but he is now officially a holdout.
The Jaguars have made it known they do not intend to negotiate, however. "He has expressed that he would like to renegotiate and we have expressed, again, that we feel he has a contract with two years left and we expect him to fulfill those obligations," general manager Gene Smith told reporters on Monday.
The big problem however is that Jones-Drew really has no leverage. While he's under paid in regards to his production comparatively to other backs in the NFL, he still has two years left on his deal. He can't hold out and then go to another team next season. Another point against Jones-Drew is that while he lead the NFL in rushing last season, the Jaguars went just 5-11. He's also got 300 carries (299 in 2010) in each of the past three seasons, meaning there's a lot of tread on those tires.
Jones-Drew can expect a $10,500 fine for missing the first day, $21,000 on day two and $31,500 for missing a third consecutive day for a total of $63,000 in fines. Gene Smith told reporters on Monday that the decision to fine Jones-Drew will come from head coach Mike Mularkey, and Smith will support whichever decision he makes.