Fantasy Football 2012: What Is Maurice Jones-Drew's Value?

The contract impasse between Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew and the team continues to drag on. With just over a week until opening night and one big weekend of fantasy drafts remaining, team owners are presented with a dilemma.

Just what is Jones-Drew's fantasy football value this season?

The 27-year-old, who rushed for a league-leading 1,606 yards en route to a top 10 fantasy finish last year, is seeking to tear up the last two years of the contract he signed in 2009. The Florida Times-Union recently reported Jones-Drew doesn't see a problem with demanding more money after his big year.

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“Guys get cut with multiple years left on their contracts,” he said. “I don’t see any difference [in his holding out for more money]. Guys perform, but not to their compensation and they get asked to take a pay cut or get released. It’s a production-based business. If you don’t perform, you get cut. If you do perform, you get rewarded with cash payment.”

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However, Jaguars owner Shad Khan apparently doesn't share that assessment, recently stating that "the train is leaving … get on." With no end to this mess in sight, fantasy owners have a decision to make.

There are a couple of precedents that may aid in making that decision and unfortunately neither bodes well for Jones-Drew's fantasy prospects this year.

Last year, Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson staged a similar holdout and after finally receiving his big payday, reported to camp on September 1.

The 26-year-old then proceeded to have the worst season of his four-year NFL career, topping 100 yards rushing only once in the Titans' first eight games. Granted, Johnson turned it on down the stretch and finished the year as a top 10 fantasy back in PPR leagues but by the time that happened most of the squads that spent a first-round pick on him were already sunk.

After racking up a career-best 1,167 receiving yards in 2009 then San Diego Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson staged a holdout in search of the same sort of monetary windfall that Jones-Drew is seeking.

Neither side budged, Jackson sat out seven games after serving a three-game suspension to begin the year and he finished the 2010 season with all of 14 catches.

I have Jones-Drew ranked 19th among fantasy running backs in my Updated Player Rankings here at Bleacher Report, partially because he is the reigning NFL rushing champion and partially because some small part of me is still holding out hope that he'll realize that Khan and the Jaguars aren't going to cave and he'll report.

With that said, however, I can't envision a scenario as things stand today where I'd consider drafting Jones-Drew before the fifth round and even then I'd have serious reservations given that there's been no real indication that this situation is nearing a resolution.

Luckily, I probably won't have to make that call because some brave soul will probably roll the dice and draft Maurice Jones-Drew before that.

You should let them, too. It's just not worth the risk at this point.

Follow @IDPManor

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