Did Leonard Fournette Use The Patriots To Squeeze The Bucs?
March 28th, 2022
National writer talks Playoff Lenny.
Did Playoff Lenny squeeze the Bucs by flying to New England to have a sitdown with Bill Belicheat?
One major NFL columnist with all kinds of ties to the Belicheats thinks so, and he believes this forced the hand of Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht.
Albert Breer of SI.com, who Joe respects a great deal, is of the mind Playoff Lenny found leverage in a threat to join the Belicheats to get a deal done with the Bucs shortly afterward.
In his weekly mailbag, Breer was asked about how the Belicheats aimed to help their roster through free agency and Breer had this phrase in his answer.
The Belicheats “brought Leonard Fournette in for a visit (Fournette leveraged that interest into a new deal with the Buccaneers).”
Joe thinks this is a bit of a stretch. Joe doesn’t believe Licht is this gullible to panic and overpay Playoff Lenny because he met with Belicheat.
Though Playoff Lenny likely would have been a No. 1 back in New England, the Belicheats have a crowded backfield. With the Bucs, he’s playing with Brady and he’s the top dog without question.
And top dogs make more cash than part-time players. This isn’t difficult to figure out.
The Belicheats would not have paid Playoff Lenny anything close to the average of $7 million he is expected to earn this year, Joe believes.
March 28th, 2022 at 4:10 am
Yes of course his agent did. It’s his job. They do it all the time. It’s not like the Bucs were fooled. It was speculated at the time that that’s what was happening.
March 28th, 2022 at 4:16 am
Lombardi Lenny was the best free agent running back. If you were to pay any of the guys, it should’ve been him. He had leverage. Hope he earns every penny of his contract.
March 28th, 2022 at 4:39 am
are we getting honey badger or not? what’s keeping him unsigned out there?
March 28th, 2022 at 4:56 am
Sure, why wouldn’t he? And both he and Bucs ended up winners…
March 28th, 2022 at 5:03 am
lenny gave em the “malachi crunch”…like on happy days
March 28th, 2022 at 5:05 am
@bucschamp:
lol at honey badger…that is looong gone…
he’s cool with bowles, but the buck stops there – literally
March 28th, 2022 at 5:41 am
“The Belicheats would not have paid Playoff Lenny anything close to the average of $7 million he is expected to earn this year, Joe believes.”
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I believe that you are right. The one thing that puts 4net over the top on salary is his ability to pick up blocks, because there are a lot of talented ball carriers. After watching RoJo almost get Brady killed a few times, it drove Lenny’s value up.
March 28th, 2022 at 5:43 am
adam from ny Says:
“Lenny gave em the “malachi crunch”…like on happy days.”
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I thought it was a Malachi sandwich! I could be mis-remembering, though.
March 28th, 2022 at 5:58 am
Licht himself probably told Lenny to pay the visit. Pretty common for a GM to tell a player to test the waters and report back. Especially when TB is your QB.
March 28th, 2022 at 6:04 am
Still need 2 more RBs
March 28th, 2022 at 6:24 am
Bucschamp … ‘are we getting honey badger or not?’
Curious; who would you rather have at this point, Honey Badger or Gronk? Personally I’d rather have Gronk since our TE room is rather shallow at this point, but we’re doing OK with Safeties.
Bucs have managed to free up some more CAP space & are now sitting at $8.9 mil (#14 position) with 61 players signed. Still have to come up with the $$$ though for Logan Ryan, Breshad Perriman & Fred Johnson (so that’ll probably eat away that $8.9 mil). So still need to free up more $$$ for Gronk, a starting DLineman (Suh?), our depth players still to come, and our draft class.
March 28th, 2022 at 7:50 am
Lenny didn’t squeeze Licht & Licht didn’t squeeze Lenny……they are unzqueezable.
March 28th, 2022 at 8:33 am
I sure hope he did.. RB’s get no respect in the NFL these days…. Until the playoffs
March 28th, 2022 at 8:49 am
Do we get any comp picks from losing Rojo?
March 28th, 2022 at 9:20 am
Playoff Lenny was a consistent and productive running back for the Bucs last season and most important of all, Brady trusts him. Lenny is not a top 5 back, however, he earned the pay increase.
March 28th, 2022 at 9:57 am
So when you are using a bracket to indicate an actual verbatim quote, does this still allow for quote editing? I certainly have no skin in the game, and no love for the Patriots. But I’m doubting that Albert breer said Belicheats. Probably just said Patriots. Is it so hard just quoting what he actually said?
March 28th, 2022 at 9:59 am
Just looked again, and saw that you separated your rhetoric from the actual quoted content. But the rhetoric was included in the bracket so it seems like it was part of it initially. Got it now. Still silly though.
March 28th, 2022 at 11:27 am
Licht is the best GM in the NFL, certainly with contracts. No one squeezes the Bucs with a very deep RB draft and Brady and BA passing attack.
March 28th, 2022 at 2:39 pm
Not sure which side got influenced by the visit to the Patriots but the timing clearly says someone was. He literally signed hours after the visit. So either he found out he’s not valued as high as he thought and ran back to take the Bucs offer or the Bucs blinked when someone showed him a little interest. Either way I think a fair deal was reached for both parties. Looks like he got a fair market value. Neither over or under paid.
March 28th, 2022 at 2:50 pm
“Lenny is not a top 5 back, however, he earned the pay increase.“
Who are the ‘five’ better ones… What is your Top-5!?
March 28th, 2022 at 7:29 pm
@Kgh4life- Name the 5 better RBs than Lenny ?? And please don’t say Barkley , McCaffrey, or Cook ! Those guys have missed more games then they have played..
March 28th, 2022 at 7:51 pm
So I see Suh called a mercenary for simply negotiating his best deal each year.
Now a story about Playoff Lennie working the Bucs with Belicheat.
I’m happy for both of them. We’re not about to see stories about any team in the NFL working the fans for waiting lists, two year committments..(not directed at the Bucs but the entire NFL) and obviously just like the players…getting the very best deal that can be had.
It seems that when Owners do stuff in sports it’s just bizness when players do it they are either mercenary or using tough negotiating tactics. Just sayin’
March 28th, 2022 at 10:47 pm
The only thing I think this did was maybe set Leonard Fournette’s salary. I think Jason, who is excellent as GM, knew about what Fournette would get and he got Playoff Lenny for about what they could payout. I think it worked out for everyone, except Belicheat and the Patriots.