Maurice Jones-Drew Holdout: Jaguars RB Could Still Start Week 1

Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew has yet to report to the team, still holding out and attempting to get a new contract. It's getting to the point where his availability for Week 1 is in jeopardy, but head coach Mike Mularkey doesn't rule Jones-Drew playing out totally just yet.

"It depends on him. What kind of shape he’s in, how fast he picks up the system. I think I said it, I don’t know what day it was, I’m not going to put him in a position where he has any chance to fail because in the long run we all fail," Mularkey said on Saturday when asked if Jones-Drew could come back ready. "I’m not going to expose him to failure. It’s not going to happen. If he’s ready and all those conditioning wise and he picks it up immediately the faster he can progress, yes. I don’t know where we’re at right now. I have no idea."

As it stands right now, Rashad Jennings is going to be the Jaguars starting running back in the immediate future, but Mularkey hasn't put a "point of no return" on the situation yet however.

"I’ve never gone through this process with any player at any position, so I don’t know where we’ll be when we get to it," said Mularkey.