Cash Jag

On Monday, the Jacksonville Jaguars retained David Garrard. Garrard signed a 7-year, $60 million contract. “I pretty much had to say, ‘Let's go ahead and wrap it up. I'm done,’” Garrard said. “It's too much stress on me and my family. My wife was done five weeks ago. She's already been on board with everything. We just kept working on it and I finally just said, 'You know what, I'd rather be happy now, have the city happy now, have the team, the organization, the owner happy now than trying to string something out having everybody on edge.”

During his career, Garrard has completed 521 of 864 passes for 6,052 yards with 36 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. In 2007, Garrard completed 208 of 325 passes for 2,509 yards with 18 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.

Amidst controversy, Garrard assumed command. He could have hesitated. However, Garrard responded. “When you look at what transpired and how David responded, I think that's what's most impressive,” said Coach Jack Del Rio. “A lot of people may have gotten down, gotten down on themselves, gotten bitter at me for the decision. Any number of things could have taken place that would have led to a different outcome. What you see is a young man that persevered, ultimately a coach that saw something, took a shot with him, and now we're together here for the foreseeable future here in Jacksonville, and tied together and hungry for more.”