Cynthia Frelund: Leonard Fournette Is In Danger Of Getting A Pink Slip
February 24th, 2023
Playoff Lenny’s job security not looking good.
NFL Network’s stat queen believes Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht needs to tell Playoff Lenny, “Work with me — or else.”
Cynthia Frelund looked at her “models” (that word has more to do with Instagram than the NFL in Joe’s vernacular) and came away with a handful of players should be cut if they don’t agree to rework their contracts.
Frelund believes Playoff Lenny is one of those players who should help his team.
Tampa Bay currently has the worst cap situation in the entire league. And in the wake of Tom Brady’s retirement, this is a franchise in transition, having already made a change at offensive coordinator this offseason.
While Fournette actually turned in his best season as a receiver — posting career highs in yards (523), touchdowns (three) and receiving yards over expected (83) — he was ineffective in his primary role as a ball carrier. His -67 rushing yards over expected in 2022 is the worst figure he’s recorded since NGS started tracking this statistic in 2018. The former top-five pick averaged just 3.5 yards per carry, which was tied for the lowest figure among rushers with at least 50 carries last season.
To be fair, Fournette certainly was not helped by the spate of injuries along Tampa Bay’s offensive line, but still, it’s hard to justify rostering the 28-year-old back for his current price in 2023.
Joe is ready for the Kyle Trask PR blitz, based on what Joe’s been hearing the past couple of days. Just this week new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales raved about Trask and gushed over his Florida tape. That’s because after two years, Trask really doesn’t have any Bucs tape.
So with this in mind, what is the very best way to help Trask since he already has Mike Evans and Chris Godwin? Beef up your running attack.
Sorry, Rachaad White, you were RB1b on the league’s worst rushing team. Let’s not get all twisted up if the Bucs are toying with the idea of drafting Texas running back Bijan Robinson.
Given Trask as the apparent starter (for now) and how Canales by proxy via Todd Bowles wants to run the ball, you better believe the Bucs are going to add juice to the running backs room.
And if you don’t like the idea of the Trask hype train rolling down the tracks, brace yourself for next week. That’s when both Bowles and Licht (and maybe Canales, too) will be telling the thousands of NFL media types descending upon the Indiana Convention Center that Trask is the next best thing since Steve Young.
February 24th, 2023 at 12:10 am
Lenny is a plodder and no longer explosive. We need youth, speed, explosion, and not somebody who will pout if he doesn’t get his carries.
Cut him.
February 24th, 2023 at 12:35 am
YEP… I saw that interview where Arians was going on and on that he believes Trask has earned it and will win them games!
February 24th, 2023 at 1:34 am
They should draft Bijan if they go with Trask. Trask has a really slow body motion and release. Begin to build an oline and figure out a QB situation if Trask is a total bust. We have receiving weapons at the moment and Bijan would be another. Looks like Jamal Charles with stronger push.
February 24th, 2023 at 3:37 am
Again, we can find a good rb in the latter rounds. Let’s not jump the gun on Fournette because if the OL improves just a little, he will make defenses pay with his beast mode running style. However, if his attitude becomes toxic to the degree of creating cancer in the locker room or for the team, then we can consider other options for him. Remember, he earned the name playoff Lenny for a reason. He proved that big time players show up in big time games. Therefore, draft imminent needs- DE,OL,DE,OL. We struggled tremendously with our DLine getting pressure on the QB n our OLine opening holes for the run game. If our DLine can put pressure, pressure, n more pressure on the QB, we can compliment the secondary by using a mediocre cb. We’ve gotta be wise n strategic with our current cap situation.Therefore, if must, let JDean walk. DSmith cost us to lose games n JTS is trying to learn the game, he’s outta his league, seriously! I say let’s sever ties with these two n bring in violent aggressive players to replace both. Now we must get a QB in the latter rounds or bring in a free agent.
February 24th, 2023 at 5:02 am
Bucs need to put the first things first when it comes to this offense, and that involves building a decent team around whatever QB we put out there. ASSUMING that we can put together a decent OLine for this season (I think we’ve already got one IF everyone comes back healthy), our current 3 RBs … Fournette, White, Vaughn … are adequate. Maybe even better than that, given that they’re quite good at catching out of the backfield. Draft another in the later rounds & we should be OK.
Let’s work first on the things that really do NEED fixing. We should probably start by bringing in TWO QBs to compete with Trask. If Gabbert will re-sign for $3 mil or less, I’d suggest he be one of them for obvious reasons (has some mobility, has decent experience, knows the players, etc, etc). There are lots of others out there who we are probably sorting through right now to see if they’d fit the system Canales will be running.
Adding at least ONE veteran TE would be my next suggestion. I’m gonna assume that Brate will be released to save $$$ (not that effective any longer anyways), so we NEED a veteran presence in that position group. Again, there are lots of TEs hitting the FA market this year.
Our WR position group isn’t exactly devoid of talent, assuming they all come back 100%. And of course assuming that none get traded. I’m not even sure that I’d draft one this year, given that we have so many other holes to fill.
February 24th, 2023 at 6:00 am
Hunter Luepke, N. D.
February 24th, 2023 at 6:58 am
Lenny needs to stop stutter stepping before he hits the hole. He gives Defenses time to react to him coming and it has effected his YPC. If Canales and Skip Peete don’t think they can fix him, cut him and draft his replacement.
One QB I’d love to see the Bucs bring in is Tyler Huntley. Let Trask, Huntley and Gabbert/Locke fight it out to determine who starts. All 3 can be had fairly cheaply, and they give the offense some different styles to work with and see which the team performs best with.
February 24th, 2023 at 7:21 am
Everybody ignores the proven fact that Playoff Lenny led the entire team in yards gained in 2022. Everybody, including Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Rachad White, and any of our tight entds, despite making only a tiny fraction of what the two wide receivers and vet TE earned.
He was Tom Brady’s most reliable outlet for gaining first downs, despite having one of the worst offensive lines in the league. And this is the guy you want to threaten?
SMH
February 24th, 2023 at 7:23 am
And Playoff Lenny led the team in TDs scored last season.
That ain’t chopped liver!
February 24th, 2023 at 7:51 am
@ Onetrickpony
Big fan of Hunter’s especially since we need an HB in certain sets.
February 24th, 2023 at 7:58 am
Good riddance to bad rubbish!
February 24th, 2023 at 10:58 am
Lennie was a man among boys at LSU.
Then he got to the NFL and wasn’t the biggest guy anymore. He never adjusted in any way and last season had the largest amount of zero gain runs, and consecutive zero gain runs.
Part of that is on coaching, but Lennie didn’t even seem to look for holes last season.
Let the door hit him on his way out.
February 24th, 2023 at 11:43 am
Well, you know… if only somebody had said re-signing him was a bad idea last year. If there was, he’d probably say to not bothering sign Rudolph, Julio Jones, and re-signing Gio as well. And Shady McCoy, Sherman, and other recognizable names that low IQ fans pined for…. Oh wait, there was someone that said that… it was me! Fournette is the same guy that he has always been with us… a bottom half starter in the league. A big but not powerful runner that lacks quickness, explosiveness, and has poor balance but has decent hands and blocking in the pass game but lacks the quickness and speed to be a true threat. He was never worth the money we paid for him.
February 24th, 2023 at 12:08 pm
Brandon … ‘He was never worth the money we paid for him.’
But we DID pay him, so he’s on the books. Keep him & he’ll cost us $8.5 mil in salary CAP hit. Cut him & he’ll cost us $5.0 mil in salary CAP hit. Can we get someone of equal or better capability for that $3.5 mil differential? Maybe. Or maybe not. We know what we’ve got in Lenny.
Got a hunch that the Bucs are in the process of reworking Lenny’s contract (yes they did overpay him). His contract was 3 years for $21.0 mil, with $12 mil guaranteed. That’s an annual salary of $7 mil ($6.5 mil base salary plus $500K in roster bonus). $9.0 mil was guaranteed at signing in 2022, with an additional $2 mil of 2023 salary guaranteed by this March 19th. It’ll be interesting to see if anything happens with Lenny prior to that date.
February 24th, 2023 at 12:10 pm
Joe is against Trask, we know that.
The Trask talk could be sales talk in a negotiation, or maybe it’s real.
Anyway we need a second qb no matter what.
Lenny needs some blocking etc. He will work with the bucs imo.
We need a back in later rounds of the draft imo
February 24th, 2023 at 12:12 pm
I can’t see us passing up on a chance to get Robinson dude is a beast and has a high ceiling, I have faith in licht to make it happen though.
February 24th, 2023 at 12:59 pm
“the next best thing since Steve Young.”
Reality check – Steve Young’s record as starting QB for the Buccaneers was 3-16
February 24th, 2023 at 2:26 pm
Not impressed with Fournette as a runner. He doesn’t make anyone miss, he isn’t nearly as fast as he was a couple of years ago and 3.5 YPC is all he has become.
You can get an inexpensive fullback to block for extra protection. As a matter of fact, Kleft, their tight end can play in the backfield as an H back and he can catch just as good as Fournette. He made some very good catches with the few targets he got from Brady. They say he’s a good blocker as is Fournette.