Michael Turner

Although Jaguars RB Rashad Jennings will start and HC Mike Mularkey isn’t sure how many snaps Maurice Jones-Drew will get, Mularkey envisions Jones-Drew being the same workhorse back he’s been in the past for the Jaguars.

When he was asked if Jones-Drew will get most of the carries once he’s 100 percent, with Jennings complementing Jones-Drew, Mularkey said, “That’s kind of the way the system works, yes. Whoever starts, the other one will handle the third downs.”

Mularkey was asked if he thinks Jones-Drew, who jokingly said he likes to get 80 carries, will like his role in the offense.

“I think he’s seen the history of this offense. People have been critical of it rushing Michael Turner too much over 300 carries, so he’s going to get his carries. That’s kind of been the history I’ve gone all the way back to Pittsburgh, even with Jerome Bettis. We had Amos Zereoue. The feature back takes a lot of the carries,” Mularkey said.

While Mularkey never said that Jones-Drew was a shoo-in to return to the starting lineup, the writer certainly inferred that from the coach's comments. We're expecting Jennings to carry the load in Week 1, but Jones-Drew may take over RB1 duties as early as Week 2. We're still expecting Jennings to have a larger role than in years past, but from what Mularkey said, he's expecting his RB1 to carry the load.