Jaguars legend spoke with Jags Wire this week and revealed that he though the Jags made the right moves in free agency.
One thing that has frequently been an issue for the Jacksonville Jaguars recently is spending money on the wrong players in free agency who don’t perform to their contracts. That’s why former Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew is happy with how they handled themselves last month in free agency.
While the team did pay out over $83 million in contracts since the start of the new league year, their spending was wise in the eyes of most because they stuck to handing out multiple value contracts and still lead the NFL in cap space. The only sizable deal most would say the team made was to Shaquill Griffin, who received a three-year deal worth $40 million.
While some agreed with the approach and others didn’t, Jones-Drew told Jags Wire that spending recklessly during free agency could send the wrong messages, especially when paying outsiders over homegrown talents.
“I thought this free agency class was a good one,” said Jones-Drew. “I’m happy they didn’t really overpay guys because the Jags have done that in the past, which has hurt the locker room, which has hurt the team in the long run because those guys don’t really pan out. I’ll say this because I’ve said it before, but money runs everything in the NFL, right?
“If you get paid a lot of money, you become the leader of the team and people look up to you. No matter who you are. It doesn’t matter how good or bad you are [as a player]. So when you pay a guy, he better be worth every penny that you paid him. If he’s not worth every penny, and let’s say you pay him $90 million but he’s worth [less than that], guys are going to be like, ‘I can’t mess with him. They are paying guys that I am better than. Why don’t I get compensated that way?’ That messes up your locker room.”
This is an issue that seemingly came up when Dave Caldwell and Tom Coughlin were in the Jags’ front office. Sure, they had several hits during the 2017 season with the signings of A.J. Bouye, Barry Church, and Calais Campbell, but their biggest mistakes came when they didn’t want to pay their homegrown players. That included stars like Jalen Ramsey, Allen Robinson, and Yannick Ngakoue, none of whom are currently on the team.
Additionally, the Jags missed tremendously on some key signings, too, in free agency, which sent bad signals. A prime example of this was the signings of Nick Foles and Julius Thomas, two that many would say are close to the worst in team history.
Jones-Drew added that it’s fine for a team to want big-time free agents, but said he’s often expressed that the players who get big contracts have to play well.
“That’s something that I always try to tell the fans,” said Jones-Drew. “Yes, you want these big free agents, but they have to play well. You can’t miss on [big-time signings frequently].
We had the Julius Thomas miss, we had the Jared Odrick miss. We had all these guys we missed. Then you hit on Calais Campbell, right? Then all of a sudden, you take off. You hit on Barry Church for a couple years and take off and win. You hit on [Tashaun] Gipson and take off and win.
So you have to hit on guys that play well and go. But you can’t pay A.J. Bouye and not Jalen Ramsey. You can’t do that because you have Jalen covering the No. 1 receiver all over the place making pennies in comparison to Bouye. That doesn’t work.”
With Urban Meyer being more of a coach who players can relate to, maybe the Jags will be more successful with balancing who they pay off the open market and those they pay who are homegrown talent. One thing he’s done so far is focusing on acquiring talent whom the staff is familiar with, which could help tremendously.
When looking at the most recent free agency class, it appears the Jags may have the right players in terms of locker room leadership. As Jones-Drew said, Griffin’s contract will reflect how he is viewed in the locker room, and everything that has been said about him indicates that he’s exactly the type of player who can lead and prove himself.
To hear our chat with Jones-Drew, click on the media player below.
