Don’t Expect Jacksonville Jaguars to Trade Maurice Jones-Drew

One of the hottest topics throughout the 2012 NFL preseason has been whether or not Maurice Jones-Drew will actually suit up for the Jacksonville Jaguars this year as the running back continues to hold off for a new contract. While rumors about a possible trade for Jones-Drew begin to swirl, fans shouldn’t expect this move to happen anytime soon.

Jacksonville realizes they have leverage on their star running back considering he’s scheduled to make just under $10 while playing out the final two years of the five-year contract Jones-Drew signed back in 2009. If Jones-Drew was unhappy about the details of the contract, he should have said something back then instead of complaining about it now.

Sure, things are different now than they were three years ago as Jones-Drew led the league with 1,606 rushing yards in 2012 and recorded at least 1,300+ rushing yards in each of the last three seasons. If the Jaguars were considered a serious playoff contender, this would be more of an issue to make their star player happy–but it’s not.

Instead, Jacksonville realizes that they need to save money and spend it on weapons to surround Jones-Drew with so they can become a contender once again. The Jaguars aren’t going to give in to Jones-Drew’s demands anytime soon and they certainly aren’t going to trade him (especially since no other team is going to pay him the money he’s searching for), so he would be better off showing up and earning his next deal by displaying a strong performance on the football field.