JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars pulled a training camp surprise on Monday morning, waiving running back Leonard Fournette.
Even though Fournette had been a disappointment during his NFL career, cutting him two weeks before the season opener is an odd move for the franchise. Jacksonville had already made a decision to move on from Fournette by not picking up his fifth-year option for 2021, but dumping him a year early was a shock.
Coach Doug Marrone said that the team made the decision based purely on football decisions alone, although Fournette was coming off of the best season of his career and was one of the top offensive players on a team bereft of playmakers.
“I just thought that was the best for the team and doing it now,” Marrone said. “We exhausted, you know, all trade opportunities we weren’t able to get anything there. So I just felt that, you know, now we can work on the team and the plan and get ourselves ready for the season.”
With Fournette’s release, Ryquell Armstead, Nathan Cottrell, Devine Ozigbo, James Robinson and Chris Thompson are the running backs on the Jaguars roster. Robinson and Armstead are second-year players. Cottrell and Robinson are rookies. Thompson is in his seventh year.
Fournette was the fourth overall pick in the 2017 draft. The Jaguars explored trading him throughout the offseason but Marrone said that the team couldn’t get anything for him.
“My question was [in the trade process], you know, can we get any value and it was we couldn’t we couldn’t get any,” Marrone said. “Fifth sixth [round picks], we couldn’t. We couldn’t. We couldn’t get anything.”
His release adds another layer to Jacksonville’s struggle with high draft picks. Among the players drafted by the Jaguars in the first round since 2010, only two remain on the team — defensive tackle Taven Bryan (2018) and defensive end Josh Allen (2019).
Fournette was the pick by former executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin in his first draft since returning to the team in 2017. The Jaguars made the AFC championship game in Fournette’s rookie season, but he regressed in his second year and was never the player that they envisioned.
Fournette’s best season in the league came in 2019 when he rushed for 1,152 yards and caught 76 passes for 522 yards.
Fournette’s struggled were amplified by players who were selected after him who turned out to be far better in the NFL. Jamal Adams (sixth), Christian McCaffrey (eighth), Patrick Mahomes (10th) and Deshaun Watson (12th) were all selected not long after Fournette.
“If that’s the case [tanking] then the realization is if that happens and you know I’m not going to be here, right,” Marrone said. “I mean, at the end of the day if I don’t find a win enough games or do enough with this team I don’t foresee, you know, me being still being employed,” Marrone said.
“So I’m doing everything I can to make sure that we have the best team to win football games. I mean that’s as simple I can be on it.”
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