Maurice Jones-Drew Finally Reports to Jaguars

The longest holdout has come to an end finally. Defending rushing champion Maurice Jones-Drew has reported to the Jacksonville Jaguars after a 38 day standoff with the team and new owner Shahid Khan. Yes, MJD has jumped on the train.

What exactly this will mean for the team going forward remains to be seen. Head coach Mike Mularkey has stated that Rashad Jennings--who has done a decent job in preseason action in place of Drew--is going to be the starter for Week One. Whether that is going to change remains to be seen.

It wasn't clear whether MJD was going to be joining the team anytime in the near future prior to the announcement on Sunday. The team may go ahead and start Jennings as a matter of principle, but play MJD during the game. While he has been keeping in shape on his own, the preseason allows players to get in game shape; something that only happens from playing.

Defenses will now have a tougher time game planning for the Jaguars. Justin Blackmon has made the transition from the college to pro game rather easily giving the Jaguars a passing game, something they did not have at all last season. Even when teams knew all they had to do was stop the run MJD was still able to gain 1606 yards.

What will transpire here for Maurice Jones-Drew and the Jaguars remains to be seen. After amassing over $1 million in fines MJD accomplished nothing; Khan did not budge even an inch in his direction. That makes it unlikely that he'll have better luck next year either. However, if MJD has another career year it might behoove Khan to give him an extension before losing him in free agency.

Then again, MJD does have two-years remaining on his contract. By time it is up he will be 29 and getting dangerously close to the dreaded age of 30 where most running backs start to decline. This could give Khan bargaining power over MJD as well as hurt his value on the open market.