Should Maurice Jones-Drew, Mike Wallace start this week? [Poll]

Maurice Jones-Drew and Mike Wallace are both essential parts of their teams’ offenses. They both just recently ended extended holdouts that saw them miss training camp and all the preseason games.

Should they be allowed to just waltz back in like nothing ever happened and resume their spots as starters for Week 1 of the NFL season?

Jones-Drew, the former UCLA star and reigning league rushing champion, remained absent for 38 days, even though he had two years left and $9 million owed on his current deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars, before finally showing up on Sunday.

Jaguars coach Mike Mularkey said Monday that Jones-Drew will play Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, but mainly as a third-down back, although he will “get a series” in place of starter Rashad Jennings. Wonder how long that will last, seeing that Jones-Drew rushed for 1,606 yards with an NFL-leading 343 carries last season?

Wallace, a Pro Bowl receiver for Pittsburgh, was a restricted free agent who got no offers from other teams but still held out in search a long-term extension offer to his liking from the Steelers. That didn’t happen, and Wallace finally signed his tender with the team last week.

He practiced for the first time this season Monday ... with Pittsburgh’s first team. Fellow receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who had been taking Wallace’s place as a starter during camp and preseason, said Monday of his teammate, “He’s definitely going to start.”

How do you think teams should handle guys like Jones-Drew and Wallace? Should they be held out of the starting lineup as punishment for the extended holdouts or as a safety precaution? Or should all be forgotten since the goal is to win games?

Please vote in the poll, then leave a comment explaining your vote.

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