Maurice Jones-Drew: Death Threats in Wake of Cutler Tweets Being Ignored

As Maurice Jones-Drew sees it, what he went through in the wake of his comments about Jay Cutler hasn't been taken seriously enough.

Jones-Drew, the Jacksonville Jaguars' two-time Pro Bowl running back, said he and his family received death threats after he tweeted comments about Cutler -- the Chicago Bears quarterback -- during the Bears' loss in the NFC Championship Game Sunday.

Jones-Drew made his assertion during an exchange with fans on Twitter Tuesday.

"I guess death threats towards me and my family isn't head line news but me tweeting my opinion about a person is . . ." Jones-Drew tweeted. "The society is backwards I guess we haven't came far enough as human beings.

"When has a threat towards a person especially now. Has gone unspoken about on any national stage is (outrageous) and unbelievable."
Jones-Drew on Tuesday apologized for the Sunday tweets, and also said the rehabilitation process following his postseason arthroscopic knee surgery likely will last four months.

"It was my opinion, but I never wanted to personally attack Jay," Jones-Drew told Tania Ganguli of The Florida Times-Union. "It's something that I hope it blows over. I was trying to have fun, have a joke and I think it was something I should've never tweeted and I'm sorry for it. It was never to hurt him. Hopefully he can understand that, and everyone else can."

Jones-Drew twice referenced Cutler in tweets Sunday, with the first being a joke he said was directed at University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer. Cutler left the game with a knee injury that has since been revealed to be a sprained MCL.

"Hey I think the urban meyer rule is effect right now... When the going gets tough........QUIT.." Jones' first tweet read.

Jones-Drew then tweeted, "All I'm saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee... I played the whole season on one..."

Jones-Drew on Tuesday emphasized that his tweets were a joke.

"It's tough just because it was a joke," Jones-Drew said on Tuesday. "It's hard to kind of say, I didn't find it funny. It's my joke, so I found it funny. I wasn't questioning his toughness at all. ... I picked the Bears to win, the only way I thought they were going to win was with Cutler so I wanted him to go back in.

"But the backlash, when you say an opinion, everybody has their chance to say theirs back to you. It was my opinion. like i said, I wish I never tweeted it. I paid a price for it. It was never to hurt anybody."

On Monday, Jones-Drew told The Associated Press, "I don't have a problem with people coming back at me. That interaction makes it fun. But some people took it too far by threatening my life. ... I'm not going to stop tweeting. I've never attacked anyone and never will."

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