Maurice Jones-Drew Doesn’t Want to Be a Distraction

Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew is coming off of a season that was ended by injury and an offseason that was been plagued with a legal issue, but Jones-Drew doesn’t appear to want to talk about it. If he does, he doesn’t want to be public about what is going on because he is trying his best not to be a distraction.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” Jones-Drew said, via the Florida Times Union. “Through my career, I’ve tried to stay out of the media in [a negative] light and as a distraction to this team.”

He may not have meant for this to become a distraction, but when you are your team’s star player and you are involved with legal issues, a distraction will follow.

“This is a big distraction and I never wanted it to be that,” he said. “I never want to be a distraction to this team, period. … About the attention on it, I’m obviously disappointed in that. Not only has it affected the team, it’s affected my family.”

The Jaguars running back was allegedly was involved in an altercation at a restaurant in St. Augustine, Florida and he could still be charged with crimes related to the incident. The bad news for Jones-Drew is that there is reportedly surveillance video from that night that shows him assaulting the the security guard at the restaurant.

Jones-Drew is also entering the final year of his contract, so there is a real chance that the Jaguars will decide to move forward without him after this season.

After all, with new coach Gus Bradley and new general manager Dave Caldwell there is a different group of men calling the shots and they may just have had enough of Jones-Drew’s headaches.