Leonard Fournette and Blake Bortles squash beef, get chummy before Bucs-Broncos

Leonard Fournette appears to be friendly with Blake Bortles.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette didn’t leave the Jacksonville Jaguars without a little bit of bridge-burning, dissing Gardner Minshew and Blake Bortles on the way out by claiming that playing with Tom Brady allows him to finally line up behind “a real quarterback.” While this could’ve caused a major rift between the two, Bortles didn’t seem to be hurt by the comments.

Fournette and Bortles, who signed with the Denver Broncos in order to back up Jeff Driskell, don’t seem to have any hard feelings for each other, as they were chatting before their two new teams faced off against one another.

Both Leonard Fournette and Blake Bortles were cast away in Jacksonville

Fournette totaled 1,674 yards from scrimmage in 2019, but Doug Marrone ditched him in favor of James Robinson. Fournette quickly latched on as part of a 1-2 punch alongside Ronald Jones in Tampa Bay, and he’s found some success as the power half of this “smash and dash” combination.

Bortles had solid production in Jacksonville, but his raw numbers were deceiving, as they often came during garbage time when he was getting blown out. Despite their miracle run in 2017, Bortles was let go in 2018. Bortles spent last season as a backup behind Jared Goff in Los Angeles with the Rams. Time will tell if he finds success as a mentor to Drew Lock or player in Denver.

Fournette didn’t become the 300 carry per year bell-cow Jacksonville thought he would be, and Bortles is the farthest thing from a franchise quarterback despite being picked No. 3 overall. Regardless, both of these players have found new roles for themselves in the league outside of Duval County, and it’s not healthy to keep dwelling on what was clearly a bad situation in Jacksonville.