The Jaguars Cut An Injured David Garrard Because They're Cheap, His Agent Says

And here we were thinking the David Garrard saga had ended, more boring than an average Jaguars game. But Garrard's camp is still talking trash on the Jags, from beyond the grave. (Or operating table. Whatever.) Garrard's agent says the team knew about the back injury, and released the quarterback rather than pay him to recover.

"At $500,000 per game, they knew he would be down 4-6 weeks. They didn't want to pay that bill," Al Irby wrote in an email to the . "Now you know the difference between a first-class organization like Indy, and a sorry organization like the Jags. Indy gave their QB a contract even though he couldn't play all season. ... David was told his back was fine. So he took them for their word. Now he has to go to surgery, and Jacksonville is saying, 'Not my problem.' What a first class organization!"

At this point, with so much on the injury timeline unclear, it's a matter of he-said, she-said, and the Jags aren't saying anything other than "David went through the standard process that all players go through when released." But then, Jacksonville can afford to take the high road: they've still got that $500,000 per game. So we'll ask some questions for them.

If Garrard's back surgery follows from an injury suffered in training camp, why did he say last month he was deciding between five teams? Why did his agent say he wanted to be a starter, not a temporary fill-in? Why did he say as recently as last week that he wants to play for someone this season? Why did his agent say he would work out for the Raiders?

We feel for Garrard, but no more so than the scores of other football players who get cut when they're injured or ineffective. That's the way of the world in an NFL without guaranteed salaries. And we presume he knew it too when he negotiated to get $18 million of his $60 million deal up front.

Agent accuses Jaguars of shirking bill by cutting David Garrard [Florida Times-Union]