As we presented last week, Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew will be hosting a weekly fantasy football radio show on Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio during the season.
Jack Del Rio pulled the plug on David Garrard's radio show last year, which was on a local radio station and allowed fans to call in and participate. We weren't sure if Jack Del Rio would pull the plug on the franchise's star player, and as most of us expected, he did not.
It's not really all that surprising that Del Rio didn't pull the plug on Maurice Jones-Drew, but doesn't it kind of make Del Rio look a little foolish last year?
"Clearly, the preparation involved with playing running back is very different than that of a quarterback," Del Rio said in a statement.
Yes, there is clearly a difference in preparation, but it's still a double standard. Quarterbacks to go through a lot more preparation than runningbacks, but is it really that big of a deal? Not to mention the fact that back in September when Del Rio nixed Garrard's show, he said nothing about it being about him being a quarterback.
"If you're not studying film, you ought to be relaxing with the family. So, those are my thoughts. I conveyed them to him," Jack Del Rio told David Garrard about the radio show. "Less than 48 hours away from the game, it's not even a question," Del Rio said. "I don't even understand how anybody could ever advise somebody to think about doing something like that. It makes no sense."
I guess those rules only apply to the quarterback, though.
Someone on Twitter told me that "Bottom line: One guy deserves to have a show, the other doesn't." While I agree with that premise, as much Maurice Jones-Drew may deserve a show over David Garrard isn't the issue here, it's an issue of knee-jerk reaction and not telling your star player "No".
Do I have a problem with Maurice Jones-Drew hosting a radio show within 48 hours of a game?
Not at all, as I didn't with David Garrard either.
Sure, I would prefer both do it earlier in the week, but honestly an hour or so out of their day isn't a huge deal. There was speculation that David Garrard had a clause in his contract that required him to run something such as a radio show by the team before he did, and Garrard just did the show without notifying the team. Jack Del Rio claims Maurice Jones-Drew and he talked about the show before hand, "Maurice and I spoke about him hosting a national fantasy football show this fall. Maurice is one of the more popular players in fantasy football leagues, and this is a bit of a hobby for him. This is during the season, and obviously our game preparation is important, but Maurice understands that," Del Rio told the Florida Times-Union.
David Garrard's show was nixed after the teams 1-2 start, and the game following the canceled show the Jaguars won 37-17 over the Tennessee Titans. That game oddly enough, was easily David Garrard's best of the season. I don't believe the radio show effected Garrard's game preparation at all, as his preparation and play was openly criticized by his head coach and "boss", Wayne Weaver after the season anyways.
As I said, I really don't care if a player hosts a radio show as it's not a big issue, but at least be consistent. This has been an issue with Jack Del Rio the past few seasons. Not only the team's consistency, but his own in his coaching methods. He started out as a players coach, then at somepoint flipped the switch and become a much tougher guy who openly criticized players. His practices would go from what many considered "soft" to being cancelled by the NFL.
There is going to be one interesting thing to watch with Maurice Jones-Drew hosting a fantasy football radio show this year; What if Maurice Jones-Drew has an off year?
If that's the case, it's likely Jack Del Rio will not longer be the coach regardless, but talk about egg on your face.