Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan is a reporter's friend. He's available, intelligent and energetic. He's a great quote. But when he created one of those great quotes earlier Tuesday, we wrote that he could be damaging his organizational goals.
Here's Khan's response when he was asked about Maurice Jones-Drew's holdout: "Train is leaving the station. Run, get on it."
Khan probably didn't mean for it to come off so confrontational, but NFL players don't like to be told when to run. There were some indications that Jones-Drew was ready to end the standoff. That mood now has changed.
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NFL.com and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports that Khan's comments caused a visceral reaction from Jones-Drew. If the running back is so unnecessary, why not trade him?
Rapoport also points out that Jones-Drew has a lot of money saved up, an endorsement deal of which to live off and that the two sides are no closer to a deal. Khan has brought out the prideful part of Jones-Drew, which isn't going to help matters.
"Maurice wants to play for an organization that wants him and for an owner who respects him and values what he brings to a team -- on the field, in the locker room and in the community," Jones-Drew's agent Adisa Bakari told The Associated Press.
The key part of Rapoport's report was the information that Jones-Drew and general manager Gene Smith speak regularly, including on Monday night. They were supposed to keep information of Jones-Drew's negotiations "in-house." Khan went off the reservation and made life more difficult for his general manager.
Khan has that right because it's his team and he wants to make a statement, but ultimately he's said that he doesn't want to be making football decisions. Now he has.
If there is a silver lining here for Jaguars fans, it's hard to imagine a trade happening. It's not up to Jones-Drew to make himself available for a trade. We don't see the Jaguars wanting to trade him and we don't see other teams going nuts to give up a high draft pick and a big contract for him. The Jaguars hold all the cards.
The best solution for the Jaguars is for Jones-Drew to play under the terms of his current contract in Jacksonville. Khan's comments ultimately made that endgame more difficult to achieve.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
