Leonard Fournette Has A Wish — For Ronald Jones
December 30th, 2020
The Bucs came off a Week 13 bye against Minnesota and running back Leonard Fournette was benched for what appeared to be solely a football decision.
Joe asked Fournette about that today.
“It was difficult, you know, but like I said this is a learning year for me,” Fournette replied.
“[Ronald Jones] is doing a great job, doing his thing. I wish, hopefully this game he can get that 1,000 yards. I mean, I hope he gets that and I think he deserves that. He deserves that deeply. So my job is to come in and motivate a lot of guys. That’s all. I’ve been in those shoes. I’m just coming here being another puzzle [piece] to the team.”
Jones has 900 yards rushing but has missed the last two games on the COVID reserve list and with a broken finger. Bucco Bruce Arians said today that RoJo looked pretty good in his first practice in weeks.
Fournette gave a team-guy answer, and Joe appreciates that he acknowledged getting benched was difficult.
It’s a very safe bet that Fournette will have a new team next year, and he sure sounded like a guy content with that reality.
December 30th, 2020 at 2:03 pm
wow, i’ll give him a lot of credit to actually say that. good for him….
December 30th, 2020 at 2:19 pm
Sometimes teams are just not good fits for some players. They go on to other teams and all of a sudden fit in nicely. Happens all the time. Fournette is not done yet. He may still catch on with another team.
December 30th, 2020 at 2:21 pm
He is a great insurance for the playoffs
December 30th, 2020 at 2:32 pm
He has already proven to be a great insurance for the team already with ROJO being out. Good job man!
December 30th, 2020 at 3:03 pm
i agree bobby…
GO BUCS!!!!
December 30th, 2020 at 3:26 pm
“It’s a very safe bet that Fournette will have a new team next year, and he sure sounded like a guy content with that reality.”
I am reading the tea leaves differently Joe. This partial statement from Fournette sounds like he is just getting his feet under him in this new offense and “wait til next year.” It has that kind of vibe.
“like I said this is a learning year for me,”
December 30th, 2020 at 3:27 pm
i am dreaming of the bucs having a three-headed monster out of the backfield in the playoffs and just dominating teams. would love to see all three take over a game and take the pressure off the passing game. would be great especially in lambeau and teams with good pash rushes like the saints and redskins.
December 30th, 2020 at 3:45 pm
Fournette has looked sluggish all year and deserves to ride pine. He looks to be making business decisions every time he touches the ball. It’s as if he’s calculating risk reward on every play and rarely exhibits 100% effort. Is he hurt? Is he washed up already? Is he preserving himself? Does he care? He’s quite the enigma, I’m just glad he’s not complaining publicly and understands Rojo has earned the right to be the starter.
December 30th, 2020 at 3:45 pm
Joe, Don’t be so sure he’s on another team next year. I don’t understand why you see that as a foregone conclusion. He’s a fantastic running back. Few running backs have perfect outings every game, that’s unrealistic.
December 30th, 2020 at 4:06 pm
good teams have more than one good back
December 30th, 2020 at 4:17 pm
Nah, Fornette is done as a Buc after this year.
As big as he is, he has ZERO leg-drive when he hits a defender. It’s actually astonishing how weak he looks.
Watching the rook KV30 last week, it was refreshing to see a difference. This dude runs HARD and tries to run thru tackles. BIG DIFFERENCE!!!
Rojo & Vaughn will be a great 1-2 punch from here on out.
December 30th, 2020 at 4:32 pm
If I’m not mistaken didn’t Fournette have some friction with management in JAX?
As folks have said he realizes this is a prove it year…not just for the Bucs but the rest of the league.
Other teams will be impressed that Fournette has now morphed into a team guy.
That’s great for Fournette’s agent.
In addition despite the naysayers here Fournette still has some tread left. He had a few really good cuts and power moves but not consistently enough to satisfy this crowd and I get that. But the team was inconsistent and to expect Fournette to rise above that may be a little too much to ask. I concede he was inconsistent but he did not suck and he flashed at times.
He’s a single 100yard + playoff game away from cashing in after this solid move. Seriously. If ROJO goes down and the Bucs become the playoff darlings and win a couple with Fournette contributing that’s all it will take for his agent to cash in.
December 30th, 2020 at 5:00 pm
This guy may very well be out of the league next year.
If you were a GM would you sign him? To much twinkle toe running for me.
December 30th, 2020 at 5:13 pm
He’s definitely not running all out. He had some good moves the last couple weeks but he’s either dinged up, making business decisions or he’s hitting the buffet a little too often….
December 30th, 2020 at 5:34 pm
He is an NFL back still, but the power in those trunks does not look the same as just two years ago
The RB position falls off faster than any other…re-watch his weak running style of the Lions game…he is close to the end IMO
The kid from Vandy looked way quicker, stronger, and more decisive in his running
December 30th, 2020 at 5:44 pm
I’m wishing for Vaughn to get 100+ yards Sunday. I think it’s been addressed by the FO they have to run the ball. I don’t know how many yards RoJo would have if he got the amount of carries he should’ve had. 4-1 when he gets at least 17 carries. Four 100+ games. What a f#cking disgrace of coaching. They looked jelly last week with a balanced offense that Vaughn definitely helped create.
December 30th, 2020 at 5:45 pm
I’m wishing for Vaughn to get 100+ yards Sunday. I think it’s been addressed by the FO they have to run the ball. I don’t know how many yards RoJo would have if he got the amount of carries he should’ve had. 4-1 when he gets at least 17 carries. Four 100+ games. What a f#cking disgrace of coaching. They looked jelly last week with a balanced offense that Vaughn definitely helped create.
December 30th, 2020 at 7:28 pm
Neither Fournette nor Shady McCoy will be here next year, you can be sure of that.
December 30th, 2020 at 7:44 pm
they will add in a tom brady back next year to compliment rojo and vaughn…
a bonafide receiver out of the backfield
December 30th, 2020 at 7:49 pm
This is what 1+1+3 is about. Good on him. Signs they are truly a team when more experienced guys say that about the younger guys.
December 30th, 2020 at 7:56 pm
fournette will sign a 2 year deal for decent money to be the feature back – it will most likely be in a crappy team – he will get another shot to tote the rock big time…
if he fails, he’s then relegated to a back up role for about 3 more years in the nfl if he can live with that…
he just doesn’t run hard…always falls backward…and seems to run the tread of his tires in college…
it might be time for him to start fresh and lose that lsu jersey he always subtly wears under his bucs jersey…so weird
i debated the talk of “we finally go our big back” on the board when he first arrived…and i’ll stick to my call…he’s a “fairly big back” at best…
as i said before, aj dillon with green bay is a big back…alstott was a big back…blount was a big back…
fournette and rojo basically fall into the same size category…8 pound differential
he doesn’t run very hard either…
but as a back up, you can’t get a better insurance policy……if he agrees to that type role…not sure he’s ready for that…he wants another shot at feature back somewhere – and he probably does deserve it too
December 30th, 2020 at 7:59 pm
He has said the right things and he has done his job blocking. I’ve been surprised how many balls he has dropped in the passing game and I’m surprised how tentative he has looked at times running the ball.
Either way, I’m glad they had him because Vaughn obviously was not ready to be in there as much as he would have been needed. He had to learn to block. I expect Vaughn to be the #2 next year and Fournette and McCoy to be gone
December 30th, 2020 at 8:00 pm
yeah if you’re a dude who starts talking sheet during week 17 and right before the playoffs, you deserve to ride the bench…
it’s playoff time…
it’s all about team team team now…
anyone talking me me me must fall back asap…
anyone not thinking “superbowl or bust” now, has to ride the pine…
anything else is unacceptable
December 30th, 2020 at 10:28 pm
Roy
“Signs they are truly a team when more experienced guys say that about the younger guys.”
Or a screaming red flag 🚩 that he doesn’t wanna play no more….
December 31st, 2020 at 11:15 am
The Jags let him go and an undrafted rookie came in for them and set yardage records.
Going to a new team and learning a new offense has nothing to do with running like a bitch. Vaughn is in his first year in the NFL with no offseason and I don’t see him pissing himself at first contact.
Fournette will not get the contract he’s looking for this offseason. He doesn’t seem to have the attitude of a guy that wants to play in a time share, but he doesn’t run like a lead back. So there’s the conundrum for would be buyers.