Five Years, $31 Million For Jones-Drew

At the end of the day, Jags running back Maurice Jones-Drew fell far short of his supposed goal of averaging $8 million per year. He also fell short of averaging $7 million annually. In the end, the average value of his contract landed at $6.2 million. Hardly chump change, but also hardly the equivalent of the highest-paid man at the position. Actually, Jones-Drew’s five-year, $31 million deal (per ESPN.com) comes in just a bit south of Brandon Jacobs’ four-year, $25 million contract, which has an average value of $6.25 million. That said, Jones-Drew gets $17.5 million in guaranteed money (an average of $3.5 million per year), and Jacobs will be paid $13 million guaranteed (an average of $3.25 million per year). Still, both men did better than Michael Turner of the Falcons, who parlayed four years of backing up LaDainian Tomlinson into a six-year, $34.5 million deal, for an average of $5.75 million per year. Jones-Drew supposedly was aiming even higher, with last year’s five-year, $48.5 million contract paid to Rams running back Steven Jackson as the target. But Jackson remains by far the highest paid player at the position, with an annual average of $9.7 million. The next running back to watch, in our view, is Adrian Peterson. As he continues to drive up the remaining base salaries of his rookie deal by qualifying for the “superstar” incentives contained in his contract, the Vikings will need to find a way both to reward him and to manage his cap numbers, assuming there’s a salary cap after the 2009 season.