When he signed that contract, he was in a time-share with Fred Taylor and got overpaid. The Jaguars have done that with several people, including Mike Thomas, who really didn't earn the extra cash, but the franchise felt like they had to do it to lock up younger players so they wouldn't chase money elsewhere.
All of a sudden, now that he's the NFL's leading rusher, he wants more when he already got more for a fat front-loaded contract.
It's a serious lapse in judgement on MJD's part. Yes, he's an important part of the team. But he's an important part of a team that just went 5-11 and has a new head coach and a new owner. His tactics would have probably worked if Jack Del Rio and Wayne Weaver were still in charge, but they aren't. As many have rightly pointed out, the Jaguars probably could go 5-11 again without him, so where's the incentive?
Would I like MJD to get his money? Yes. But I also know this - the way the Jaguars were going the last five or six years, something fundamental had to change with that organization. There's a couple more dysfunctional organizations out there, but if you take into account the national perception of the team moving, the horrible way in which personnel decisions were handled (read Leftwich and Garrard) and the basic apathy towards the city, there really is nowhere to go but up. I still get angry when national media picks on the Jaguars because they do it out of laziness and don't actually research the situations. But where is their incentive to? It's not like phone lines are lighting up with angry Jacksonville fans. We're an easy target with little risk involved.
I may not agree with all that Khan is doing (the four-year committment to London still miffs me) but I respect that he's doing what he feels like he has to do in order to make the Jaguars better on the field and off.
