Leonard Fournette says he’s in a much better place than last year

[Jaxson De Ville]

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Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette had a major disappointment of a second year in the NFL, missing half the season and managing just 439 yards on 133 carries in the eight games he played. This year, he says, is different.

Fournette told Tyler Dunne of BleacherReport.com that compared to last year, his mental approach to the game is far better

“I’m in a happy place right now,” Fournette said. “Way, way, way, 100 percent better. 100 percent.”

Fournette spent time in Wyoming this offseason, pushing himself through grueling workouts at high altitude, and says he came back having lost weight and gained an appreciation for how important it is to him to be great.

“It was really the first time—in my life, in football—I had a bad year. A down year,” he said. “I dealt with an injury. A lot was going on. I wanted to reinvent myself.”

The Jaguars took Fournette with the fourth overall pick in a draft that saw Patrick Mahomes go 10th and Deshaun Watson go 12th, and so it would be virtually impossible for him to erase the questions of whether the Jaguars made a mistake when they passed on potential franchise quarterbacks and selected him so high. But Fournette sounds committed to making himself into one of the game’s best runners.