The Oakland Raiders signed running back Maurice Jones-Drew to a three-year deal, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Jones-Drew told the official Raiders Twitter account that his main goal is winning:
Whether or not the Raiders will post a winning record remains to be seen. But one thing is incredibly clear—the signing of MJD is very bad news for Darren McFadden.
McFadden did re-sign with the Raiders this offseason, presumably to be their starting running back again:
But the Raiders clearly don't have too much confidence in McFadden. If they did, they would not have signed Jones-Drew.
And on the one hand, that makes sense. MJD, despite the fact he has battled injuries, is a better runner than McFadden. Last season, MJD rushed for 803 yards on 234 carries for five touchdowns. McFadden, in only 10 games, rushed for 379 yards.
Let's be frank—the Raiders did not sign MJD to be a backup. The Raiders still seem to operate as if they complete their scouting by going through the most popular trading cards. MJD has the pedigree. He will start.
That means McFadden may have to find a new home. He's never lived up to his lofty draft status of being selected fourth overall in 2008. Injuries haven't helped, but he's only had one good season.
For his part, MJD is saying all the right things. He is looking forward to competing with McFadden, telling Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com: "We have different running abilities. But the competition is what's going to make us better. We'll push each other."
But anything other than MJD starting would be a shock.
There is an argument to be made for the two to split time. After all, the two complement each other fairly well. Jones-Drew is a pounding inside runner, while McFadden has the speed to get to the outside. As a tandem, ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
