Tampa Bay Buccaneers have serious interest in Leonard Fournette
By Josh Hill
Leonard Fournette might not have to move out of state to find his next job in the NFL.
What would you pay to take a flier on a former No. 4 overall pick?
That’s something the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are asking themselves right now. After being released by the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this week, Leonard Fournette is looking for work and the Buccaneers might be the answer to the question of where he’ll play next.
According to Albert Breer, the Bucs have serious interest in signing Fournette and adding him to an already loaded arsenal for Tom Brady.
The Bucs have less than $2 million in cap space left, but Fournette is not going to command top dollar on the market. Greg Auman from The Athletic points out that teams have been turning Fournette’s $4 million asking price down and if he wants to play in 2020 he’ll have to dramatically reduce his financial expectations.
In order to get a deal done, the most that Tampa Bay could offer without needing to make a roster move is $1.9 million.
Fournette is a former Top 5 draft pick and a player who went over 1,000 yards rushing and came close to that total in receiving as well last year. But he struggled to become a real standout in Jacksonville and is a throwback to Boom-or-Bust style running backs that have shown flashiness but are ultimately less dynamic than more successful players at the position.
Then again, the only offense we’ve ever seen Fournette in is one led either by Blake Bortles or Gardner Minshew — neither of whom is Tom Brady.
Fournette would fill a need for the Buccaneers in that he’s a true starting running back. The Bucs have Ronald Jones in that spot on the depth chart but he’s yet to fully prove he can be a No. 1 back (not that he won’t prove that this season).
Just like how Jones can greatly benefit from being in Tom Brady’s offense, so too could Fournette.
There’s no guarantee that a team signing Fournette will get the absolute stud we saw at LSU a handful of years ago, but for less than $2 million there’s enough win-win with Fournette in Tampa Bay to convince all involved that this is a gamble worth taking.