Jacksonville Jaguars surprisingly announced on Monday that the team has released running back Leonard Fournette. This comes after Jags unsuccessfully tried to trade the 25-year-old player, who was the No. 4 pick in 2017, for the better part of the offseason.
Fournette was Jacksonville’s leading rusher in 2019, managing career-high 1,152 yards and three touchdowns. He also established himself as a reliable receiving option, catching 76 passes for 522 yards.
Despite this production, Jaguars’ head coach Doug Marrone told reporters that he didn’t see Fournette as part of the team moving forward.
“At the end of the day, we feel … the skill sets of the guys that we have [can replace Fournette], and really that’s what led to the decision,” said Marrone. “And it’s been something that we’ve done it with every single position we’ve been looking at. We’ve done cutups, we’ve done tapes, we’ve gone back, we’ve looked at everything, what we’ve tried to get done.”
Marrone added that the team would have preferred to trade Fournette and obtain some assets in return, but Jaguars “couldn’t get anything” for on the market.
Jaguars spent the fourth overall pick on Leonard Fournette in 2017 with hopes that he will carry their running game for years to come. And while Fournette showed such potential in these past three years, injuries and inconsistency stopped him from meeting expectations in Jacksonville.
Fournette is currently subject to waivers, but it’s unlikely that any NFL team will claim him. Still, once he becomes a free agent, there should not be a lack of interest in his services as there are teams that still think he could turn around his career.
