Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew Believes Titans RB Chris Johnson Should Be Paid

Maurice Jones-Drew and Chris Johnson are not close friends, but Jones-Drew, who has been Jacksonville's running game since Fred Taylor left two years ago, has respect for Johnson the way people have respect for peers who are excellent at what they do. Peter King of Sports Illustrated asked him to weigh in on the contract stalemate between Johnson and the Titans. "How many true game-changers are there in pro football? he said. "Six, seven? Let's figure it out. Manning. Brady. Brees. Aaron Rodgers. Roethlisberger. Let's see. Matt Ryan, maybe. And Vick, of course. Matt Schaub? Maybe. But let's say there are seven of them, guys who you have to account for and who can beat you almost by themselves. And you look at every other player in the game and tell me if there's anyone who changes the game like Chris Johnson. I don't think there is." King said to Jones-Drew: "Even if you're right, and you probably are, Johnson's got two years left on his contract. You've got to take that into account. It's not like he's a free agent. Right?" "I understand," Jones-Drew said. "But you have to understand too that Chris is an adamant guy. He's the kind of guy who, if he feels like he's not getting what he's worth, he just won't show up. So you've got to figure a way around this. In terms of the business of football, I'd rather have paid him last year than wait until this year. [Johnson was coming off a 2,006-yard rushing season.] When you wait you always end up paying more. "I think the lockout made guys understand their power. Chris knows he has some power. He knows his importance to the team. He knows that he's responsible for all those '28' jerseys being sold. All of a sudden if he doesn't show up, it's like the Colts if Peyton doesn't show up."

Source: Sports Illustrated

 

Because when Chris Johnson gets paid, MJD can make his case to get paid too.

 

Is there any doubt that Chris should be paid? He's going about it the wrong way though. I understand the holdout but when the team says they'll sit down and negotiate if you're in training camp then meet them half way. I still support players in this situation but damn he's being extremely difficult.

 

While i do hate hold-outs i can see his point, i mean what happens if he goes out there and gets hurt for the rest of the season in practice? Team is not gonna give him a new contract. Teams always talk about players honoring their contracts but teams don't ever have to honor anything. And RB shelf life is not very long so i do think that he needs to get paid now specially since teams do not keep a RB past the age of 30 due to so much wear and tear and he is the face of the Titans

 

I feel the same way. I don't so much hate holdouts, I hate how easily they can be avoided. If a team can cut you or strong arm you into a new contract after a bad injury or season then I feel that holdouts are players' God given right. If this was a perfect world and life was fair we would never have holdouts.

 

Ya everyone agrees with that, MJD.

 

It's not a question on whether he should or shouldn't be paid. it's the fact of how he's doing it. i hate that contracts really mean nothing in the end. a team can cut you. or you can hold out. what leverage does a contract hold, aside from you just can't jump to another team?

And yeah, I was thinking the same that MJD wants Johnson to get paid, so he can then make his case. If CJ was that much of a game changer, the Titans should be competing EVERY year. Like the Colts do with Peyton. I'm not saying he's NOT a game-changer and he's not important, but seriously.

 

While you do make a good point. CJ is the face of the Titans franchise and while he is a game changer he cant make the team compete when there is no QB. If the opposite team is always putting an extra guy in the box every time to stop CJ by his presence alone he is making your QB job a lot easier.

If the Titans had a legit QB they would easily be a contender

 

With COlts not having a legit running game, why shouldn't they be able to stop Peyton? The thing is, MJD said that he is like Peyton and the Colts. I disagree. The Titans aren't contenders right now with him, and they wouldn't be without him. He wants QB type money, and he shouldn't get that. He's not a QB. He's one of the best at his position, and he should be paid for that. But making comparisons with him and QBs..is absurd.