There is a battle going on between the creator of billions of dollars of wealth and a running back whose window may be closing in the coming seasons.  That battle will be played out on the national stage even if the final outcome (a Khan victory) is already written on the wall.  This situation is a fly compared to the other things that Khan has to worry about – largely the marketing of the Jaguars to Jacksonville, Florida, the greater Nation, and (now) London.  It’s about making the Jaguars the hottest ticket in the league and to be honest, I think that Khan is the man to do that.

Maurice Jones-Drew may as well be Maurice Jones-Who? to Khan.

So when Khan says that the MJD situation doesn’t even move the needle for his stress, he means it.  Even if Rashad Jennings and the rest of the stable of running backs (10+ yards per carry is pretty nice, Keith Toston!) weren’t putting up huge numbers, there’s no way that Khan moves from his position.  He knows he has a marketable product, even with MJD holding out.  All press is good press, is it not?

MJD is giving Khan what he wants whether he returns to the team or not: exposure.

Before Blaine Gabbert was showing that this offseason was more than just baby steps, MJD was garnering headlines for the Jaguars.  The star was the main draw, the primary focus, and the premier attraction for the least popular team in the league.  He single-handedly took a transitional situation for a 5-11 team and put it at the forefront of every NFL fan’s mind.  The MJD trade for Mike Wallace thought was disseminated well before MJD asked for a trade.  Just the contemplation of Jones-Drew in another uniform makes national headlines for the Jaguars (and the Jets apparently).  Just MJD sitting out was enough for the Jaguars to become a lighting rod of criticism, resentment, attention, and discussion.  Can you imagine if they start to win in the regular season without him?

I don't care how much money you make, does this look like the face of a man you want to go toe-to-toe with? Source: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Khan has thought about it, and I guarantee that he doesn’t care if they win without him or not.  Either way his level of stress is unaffected by MJD and more affected by which direction the team is taking…and right now the team is trending upward.  MJD brings a 44% chance of winning when he’s carrying the ball – for a man that built an empire he wants a much greater chance of success.  Jones-Drew is well known for his ability to put the team on his shoulders, much like Atlas (seriously, it’s a thing), but Khan doesn’t care.  Besides, why use one person when players like Jennings, Daryl Smith, Blaine Gabbert, Justin Blackmon, and Tyson Alualu all seem perfectly capable of lifting the load together.

This isn’t about star power.  This isn’t about performance.  This is about marketing the Jaguars.  And thus far, Shahid Khan has played it perfectly.  With MJD, the Jags have a superstar.  Without MJD, the Jags have a superstar making headlines anyway.  For all Khan cares, MJD can rot away at home while wasting his final money making years and being fined by the team.  Jones-Drew doesn’t have to be with the team for the team to make money (and headlines) without him.

Slowly the fans level of stress over the lack of MJD will be at an all-time low.  And when that happens, no amount of trade talks will cause their needle to waver either.

- Luke N. Sims

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Seriously HBO? It doesn't take a genius to figure out that America could still use more Emmanuelle Chriqui. Source: Dale Zanine-US PRESSWIRE

Who said we needed to get on Hard Knocks to get some exposure?  We’re just two games into the preseason, but there’s enough national chatter about the Jaguars to make HBO fully regret their decision not to put us on the air.  Since the beginning of the day on Monday, 10 Jaguars centered articles were written on ProFootballTalk.com (a fairly biased site for Jags ignorance/criticism).  10!!  I feel lucky when I get to read one or two a week, much less 10 in 2 days.   Why have the Jaguars become so attractive to the media recently?…

What is it about the 'stache that is so darn intriguing? Source: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

…Because we have all the makings of an incredibly compelling story.  We have a coming-of-age story developing (bring it Lombardi), we have scandal and deceit (I’m looking at you, Jones-Drew), we have incredibly intriguing characters (who is the man behind the mustache?), and now a historic metropolitan background (sorry Jacksonville, London has a clock more historic than you).  We have change, both the expected (Mularkey and co.) and the less expected (Rashad Jennings being an absolute boss).  We have exciting new characters (Blackmon , Branch), but even the familiar old ones seemed to have breathed in new life (Mike Thomas).  More importantly, this year in Jacksonville we have a true sense of possibility – a sense that the window of opportunity, though miniscule, is open… a sense that with the right circumstances, anything could happen… a sense that for the first time in five or so years, we truly have an uncertain trajectory.

Some of you readers (among you, my friends) may scoff and say the Jags are still a 6-10 team… and perhaps that is true.  But even if we bump the Jaguars up an extra win or two because of their incredibly productive (and meaningless) preseason play, we aren’t giving the Jaguars’ story enough credence by simply calling them an 8-8 team.  The tiny bit of fire they’ve shown their fans, and the NFL, is now in the realm of possibility.  Who in their right (non-biased) mind thought the Jaguars would be competitive in games against the Giants and Saints – even in the preseason?  Who even dreamed that Blaine would have a game with a completion percentage of over 80%?  If I told you before training camp started that the Jaguars might lose their best player – their only elite player and the guy that had been the face of their franchise for the last half decade or so – who among us would’ve thought that the Jaguars had even the slightest chance to be competitive?

This could be you by midseason. Source: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

This is the beauty of what the preseason has shown us – that while unlikely, great results are possible from a team that wasn’t even destined for mediocrity.  But at the same time, the flipside is just as likely – that an incredible preseason could be followed up by a humiliating, first-overall-pick-winning regular season.  For fans that are riding high after the last two wins, it’s not really as far off as it might seem now.  Think about the status of the team right now – so many key players that are injured or trying to come back from injury – both starting tackles, a starting guard, a starting defensive end, two starting cornerbacks, two starting linebackers, two starting defensive tackles (3 total).  And that doesn’t even include players the player holding out or the very real potential for these injuries to be long term and/or more injuries.

So what was HBO’s mistake?  Well, they clearly didn’t realize that the intriguing Dolphin stories seem to be centered in Peru, not Miami.  While this may have seemed counter-intuitive a few weeks ago, it certainly seems clear now – if you’re going to shoot a wildlife documentary in Florida, you should probably film it in Jacksonville.

- Zain Gowani