New Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio was the head honcho in Jacksonville when running back Maurice Jones-Drew made the repeated argument of being the best running back in the NFL. In his first six seasons with the Jaguars, Jones-Drew racked up 6,853 rushing yards on a 4.7-yards-per- carry average, all while scoring 62 rushing touchdowns and averaging 46 receptions per season. MJD was an elite goal line running back with exceptional pass-catching ability and was virtually Jacksonville's only offensive weapon for years.
Unfortunately, the duo's successful past history may not be enough to save Jones-Drew's job. The running back will turn 30 next month and has been unable to stay healthy and productive over the past three seasons. As a result, Del Rio was noncommittal when asked if he believes MJD has any gas left in the tank.
"He thinks he does," Del Rio said. "We talked about it. We need to find that out. It's something we need to find out. If he feels healthy - I think the first thing would be to make sure that he keeps his weight where it needs to be. He understands that, so he can be explosive again. We need to find out if he can be explosive again."
We've heard this type of posturing from head coaches talking about veterans before. It usually doesn't end well for the player.
"All the individual players that are currently on the roster, they're being evaluated," Del Rio said. "That will be continuous. I think regardless of who, and what their standing is as we come in, I think they can all expect to be challenged, and they all can expect to have competition. We're going to create that. Maurice especially, I loved the time we had together in Jacksonville. He was one of the true warriors that I had on the football field. He gave everything he had to the football team and I will expect the same kind of commitment from all of our players here in Oakland."
Oakland's roster isn't exactly stacked with proven commodities. Oft-injured former first-round pick Darren McFadden is set to be an unrestricted free agent and second-year rusher Latavius Murray carried the ball just 82 times in 2014. Jones-Drew likely will get a shot at a roster spot in training camp, but anything beyond that does not seem to be guaranteed.
