The Rams at Twenty: April 15th, 2009 (the Maurice Jones-Drew deal)

by 3k on Apr 15, 2009 7:28 PM CDT in The Rams at Twenty

I tend to check in every night around 8 p.m. (2000, or "twenty-hundred" in military time), so I figured I'd start a new series with just a basic question to see if it can stimulate some discussion and maybe bump everyone off to older stories and fanshots to update their comments/responses.

So tonight's question:

Did Jacksonville RB Maurice Jones Drew deserve the contract he got today or no? The deal was a 5-year contract for $31 mil with 17.5 guaranteed.

Poll

If you were a GM today, would you shell out 31 mil (17.5 guaranteed) for Maurice Jones-Drew?

Yes - He's a great RB with his best years ahead of him

107 votes

No way - He's way too inconsistent...and too short.

86 votes

193 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Whoever votes no...

I don’t know what RB your watching cause MJD is a beast, since 2006 he’s lead the league (for RB’s) in all-purpose-yards, 2nd in rushing TD’s (to a guy named LT), an top 5 in like 4 other categories, all playing with a guy name Fred Taylor who’s probably one of the most underrated backs in football.

by Caruso on Apr 15, 2009 8:02 PM CDT reply actions

counterpoint

MJD was 32nd in rushing YPG w/ 4.2 per rush. By contrast, Steven Jackson averaged 86.8 per game with 4.1 per rush.
In terms of workload, this season (J-D’s 3rd), he carried the ball 197 times, his career high. In SJ’s 3rd season, 2006, he carried the ball a career-high 346 times.
Food for thought…

Jay Zygmunt, now that you have fired yourself, please have yourself hired by Seattle. Thanks.

by 3k on Apr 15, 2009 9:35 PM CDT up reply actions

Holy sh...

he’s never had a 1,000 yard season. He is a beast, but that’s A LOT of dough for a RB that has yet to top 200 carries in one season.

by Ryan Van Bibber on Apr 15, 2009 9:11 PM CDT reply actions

Seems to me

Seems MJD is quite worth it. If you are going to pay a RB big bucks you need two things from them. One, you need production and judging by the aforementioned stats Jones-Drew more than fits the bill production-wise. The other thing is assurance that that production will last. This one is a tough one. It has been proven repeatedly that NFL RBs are essentially chewed up and spit out very quickly after being used as human battering rams. So you cannot get any sort of real assurance that the production will stay at the same level. But he is only 24 and his best years are ahead of him. So it seems like a fair investment to me. That has one caveat though. The Jags had better go out and find another Fred Taylor to go along with him because it seems that the days of a one back system are gone. Jones-Drew is much better utilized as a tandem and that is no slight toward his abilities.

by hambone38 on Apr 15, 2009 9:26 PM CDT reply actions