Jaguars Head Coach Dough Marrone: “Nobody Wanted Leonard Fournette”

The Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone claims that there wasn’t any interest from other teams in making a trade that included Leonard Fournette.

Marrone stated that after the Jags released their starting running back and one of the best in his position in the league.

“My question was, can we get any value? And we couldn’t get any,” Marrone said. “So, fifth-[rounder], sixth-[rounder] — we couldn’t get anything.”

It seems that teams preferred to wait for one season before getting their hands on Fournette, who had one more year of his rookie contract ahead of him. The Jaguars didn’t want to use the fifth-season option, which was a signal that something isn’t right between these two sides.

After that, they were pretty aggressive on the market, offering the 25-year old to various teams but without a positive answer from the other side.

Now, this wasn’t because Fournette has some flaws, but predominantly because of the fact that nobody wanted to waste picks in order to get him one year earlier, plus many expected to see him waived during this offseason, due to various things inside the Jags’ locker room.

The former LSU star was superb in the year behind us. He had more than fifteen hundred yards from the scrimmage, 1,152 rushing, and 522 receiving. Though, he scored just three touchdowns, with this being his worst season ever in that aspect.

When looking at his numbers in Jacksonville, we can see that Fournette became the most influential player in this squad since being picked as the No.4 pick in the 2017 NFL draft. In 36 starts throughout those three campaigns, RB had 2,631 yards on the ground and 1,009 via air, with 19 TDs combined, 17+2.

His three playoff appearances made him popular. Fournette posted four touchdowns in the rookie season, tearing apart the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Divisional Round, and being the pivotal piece in a win at the Heinz Field.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYeeGbC1N0A

Even though Marrone says that the Jags have good replacements for Fournette, the majority disagree with that, because of his usage. Only four players had more runs last year than LF. Marrone added that only after exploring their options with the replacements did the franchise decide to move on from their star.

“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,” Marrone said. “And it’s been something that we’ve done it with every single position we’ve been looking at.”

The Jags are clearing the space for the big restructure, and they are currently getting ready for chasing that No.1 pick this year, which will no doubt be Trevor Lawrence. According to many, there is even a possibility of seeing Dabo Swiney coming to TIAA Bank Field at the start of the next season also.

As for Fournette, he has numerous options right now. The two most realistic according to the sources within the NFL, are the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Both teams need a starting running back, and Fournette, who is yet to enter his prime years, looks like a perfect solution.

We’ll see how other teams respond to this situation because a guy who delivers 1,000 rushing yards is always in focus. There could be some mind-blowing ending here, especially if Fournette becomes a free agent.