As we know, Jacksonville Jaguars running back Jones-Drew is not at the team's first round of voluntary workouts under new head coach Mike Mularkey. This isn't that big of a surprise, because Jones-Drew has skipped voluntary workouts in the past to workout in his home state of California. As I mentioned back in March and as Pete Prisco of CBS Sports is now reporting, Jones-Drew is missing from the workouts because he's looking for a new contract.
Alfie Crow talks Jones-Drew.
Jones-Drew signed a five-year, $30.95 million contract prior to the 2009 season, but has since made three straight Pro Bowls and lead the NFL in rushing last season, on a team who was the worst in the league passing the ball.
While Jones-Drew is due roughly $4.45 million for the 2012 season, it's possible he could come to the Jaguars with just two years left on his contract asking for a new. For one that pays him o the same level of the players he's out rushing, on a far worse offensive team. The Texans just signed Arian Foster to a five-year $43.5 million deal. Last season, the Tennessee Titans signed Chris Johnson to a six-year, $55.26 million deal while the Carolina Panthers signed DeAngelo Williams to a five-year, $43 million deal back in July of 2011.
It makes perfect sense for Jones-Drew to want a new deal, but it also makes sense for the Jaguars to be a bit wary of doing so. Jones-Drew is still young, but he has a lot of tread on his tires and suffered a torn meniscus that required surgery before the 2011 NFL season. He obviously recovered just fine from it, but running back has an exceedingly short life span in the NFL.