Maurice Jones-Drew Reportedly Will End Holdout, Return to Jacksonville Jaguars

The nightmare for Jacksonville Jaguars fans is finally over. Star running back Maurice Jones-Drew will end his holdout and report back to the franchise Sunday, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

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Here we go: MJD returning to Jaguars today. Carry on.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 2, 2012"

Jones-Drew is already at Jaguars camp and in the locker room meeting with teammates, as fellow running back Rashad Jennings informed us this morning.

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Just shared some love with @jones_drew32in the locker room. Glad to see you back - Let's work brah!

— Rashad Jennings (@RashadJennings) September 2, 2012"

Although MJD is back and presumably ready to go, Jennings will still start Week 1, according to NFL.com's Ian Rappaport. 

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"Despite Maurice Jones-Drew reporting to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the plan is for the team to start running back Rashad Jennings in Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings, a team source said Sunday.

The decision to start Jennings is based on his preseason play and the fact that he has been at training camp, the source said."

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Jones-Drew, who led the NFL in rushing last season with 1,606 yards, had missed all of OTAs and training camp as he held out in hopes of scoring a long-term extension indicative of his performance.

This offseason had already seen two other franchise running backs, the Baltimore Ravens' Ray Rice and the Chicago Bears' Matt Forte, get lucrative contracts approaching $20 million in guaranteed money.

Jones-Drew was looking to score a contract at least in the range of those two backs—and it's not hard to see why.

Though MJD has two years and $9.3 million remaining on the five-year, $31 million contract he signed in April 2009, his $4.5 million base salary for the 2012 season wouldn't even place him in the top 10 at his position.

Considering MJD accounted for an NFL-leading 47.7 percent of the Jaguars offense last season, his salary not being in the upper echelon makes him one of the league's most underpaid players.

Regardless, Jones-Drew's contract holdout has more to do with the player's age and position than anything.

Because Jones-Drew is 27 years old, the next contract he signs will likely be his last as an NFL player. Running backs don't last past the age of 30 (a few exceptions excluded), especially ones with MJD's diminutive stature and workload.

As we've seen in recent years with the extensions of the Tennessee Titans' Chris Johnson and (to a lesser extent) the Minnesota Vikings' Adrian Peterson, paying a top-tier running back long term is not always the best option.

So it's understandable that Jaguars owner Shahid Khan simply would not budge on Jones-Drew's contract.

But to say the two men will have a contentious relationship going forward is probably an understatement.

Managing the unhappiness of Jones-Drew will now be in the hands of head coach Mike Mularkey, who has still yet to say if he will impose a $30,000 per-day fine on his star running back.

Mularkey will also be given the task of integrating Jones-Drew into an offense that has been nothing short of fantastic during the preseason.

After looking like a lost puppy for most of his rookie season, second-year quarterback Blaine Gabbert has fired on all cylinders this preseason.

The running game hasn't looked too shabby, either, with Rashad Jennings and Montell Owens picking up the slack in MJD's absence.

But considering Jones-Drew has rushed for at least 1,300 yards in each of the past three seasons, it's highly unlikely his carries will get usurped too much.

With the star back in camp, look for the NFL's reigning leading rusher to be a workhorse yet again.