Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew was named to the AFC Pro Bowl roster in voting by coaches, players and fans, the NFL announced this evening. The 2010 Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday, January 31 and televised live on ESPN at 7:20 p.m. ET from Dolphin Stadium in South Florida, also the site of Super Bowl XLIV a week later on Sunday, February 7.
Jones-Drew is the 16th player in franchise history to make the Pro Bowl and joins Fred Taylor (2007) as only the second offensive player since 2002. In his first season as the lead running back, Jones-Drew ranks second in the NFL with 16 touchdowns and fifth with 1,309 yards on 296 rushes. Jones-Drew set the franchise single-season record for rushing touchdowns with 15 and can tie the club's single-season record for touchdowns with one on Sunday at Cleveland. He is fourth in the NFL with 1,677 yards from scrimmage. He joined Taylor as the only running backs in team history with a 1,000-yard season. In addition, he ranks second on the club with 52 receptions for 368 yards and one touchdown and returned four kicks for a 25.5-yard average.
The 2006 second-round pick has 56 touchdowns in his first 62 games, the seventh-most in NFL history in a player's first four seasons. Jones-Drew has at least one touchdown in 10 of 15 games this season and is one of only four NFL players with two three-touchdown games as he accomplished the feat at Houston (Sept. 27) and against St. Louis (Oct. 18). He is tied for the NFL lead (Frank Gore, San Francisco; Chris Johnson, Tennessee) with three touchdown runs of 60-plus yards through 15 games.
