Year 3 could be make-or-break for Leonard Fournette

Jaxson De Ville

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Mar 19, 2019
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When the Jaguars spent the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft on Leonard Fournette, they were bucking the trend of running backs being devalued. Through two years, that doesn’t look like a wise move.

That’s why, heading into Year 3, the Florida Times-Union suggests that 2019 could be Fournette’s last year in Jacksonville.

In Fournette’s rookie season he earned praise for topping 1,000 rushing yards and helping Jacksonville reach the playoffs, but he also averaged just 3.9 yards per carry, and in the three games he missed that year, the Jaguars went 3-0 while averaging more rushing yards per game than they had in the 13 games he played. In his second season he was a major disappointment, missing half the season and averaging just 3.3 yards per carry when he did play.

Fournette and the Jaguars are also in a dispute about whether the team can void more than $7 million in guarantees in his contract, a dispute that will go a long way toward determining how easily the Jaguars could move on from Fournette, if they want to.

But for now, both sides will still hope that Fournette can produce at the level the Jaguars were expecting when they drafted him fourth overall. If he does that, everything else will work itself out. If not, Fournette could be elsewhere a year from now.
 
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