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Maurice Jones-Drew Close To Signing With The Oakland Raiders

After putting up his worst season of a stellar eight-year career in 2013, Maurice Jones-Drew has signed with the Oakland Raiders (pending a physical), leaving the only team that he has played for in the NFL. The 29-year-old running back returns home on a three-year contract and will compete with fellow veteran Darren McFadden for playing time. 

The terms of the deal are unknown and isn’t final until he passes a physical later today.

Jones-Drew, who led the NFL in rushing with 1,606 yards back in 2011, has seen a major down tick in production over the past two seasons. He missed all but six games back in 2012, going for 414 yards and one touchdown in six outings. Last season saw Jones-Drew tally just 3.4 yards per attempt on an anemic Jaguars offense that failed to get anything going through the air. That ridiculously low average is likely in part due to opposing defenses stacking the box against Jacksonville, who didn’t provide much of a threat through the air.

Oakland previously retained injury-prone running back Darren McFadden on a one-year, $1.6 million contract earlier in the offseason, per Spotrac. Only $100 thousand of McFadden’s deal is guaranteed, which means that the Raiders could easily get out from under it should he struggle in training camp or go down with yet another injury.

The Raiders are hoping for a best-case scenario that would include Jones-Drew returning to 2011 form with McFadden performing the way he did during a 2010 campaign that saw him put up over 1,600 total yards.

Back to reality for a second.

It’s important to remember that the Raiders lost Rashad Jennings, who put up over 1,000 total yards and six touchdowns in a surprise performance last season. The Raiders would be lucky to get similar production from either of these running backs in 2014. Combined, there is a possibility that they perform pretty darn well together.

The idea here would be to limit the amount of touches for these two aging veterans. Give each about 14-15 touches per game and keep them both healthy and fresh throughout the season.

One thing is for sure. New starting quarterback Matt Schaub will be relying heavily on whoever is behind him in the backfield. He’s performed his best as a quarterback with a solid running game. If one of these players can return to old form, the Raiders offense should be vastly improved in 2014.

If not, the reward far outweighs the risk.

Photo: Thomas J. Russo, USA Today

 

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