The Jacksonville Jaguars have waived running back Leonard Fournette, the team announced Monday.
Related players: Ryquell Armstead, Devine Ozigbo, Chris Thompson
The move is surprising given the timing and the other options in the Jacksonville backfield. Fournette was decent last season, compiling 1,152 rushing yards and three touchdowns to go along with 76-522 on 100 targets as a receiver. His 2020 outlook was hurt by the reports that the team tried to trade him during the NFL Draft. The Jaguars also added Chris Thompson, who excels on third down, and would have no doubt put a big dent in Fournette's role as a receiver. Regardless, there aren't many options for the Jaguars in free agency (Devonta Freeman?) so they may pursue a trade for a quality backup from another team with RB depth, like Gus Edwards or Royce Freeman, but that's pure speculation at this point. On the roster they have Ryquell Armstead, who is a 23-year-old with great speed (4.45) for his size (220 lbs). He racked up 2,621 rushing yards (5.0) and 32 touchdowns in his final three seasons at Temple and was a fifth-round pick by the Jaguars. Armstead averaged 3.1 YPC on 35 carries as a rookie in 2019, but showed well in the passing game, catching 14 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Devine Ozigbo had a very limited role as a rookie in 2019 (12 touches, 50 yards) but had a good senior year at Nebraska gaining 1,082 yards on 155 carries with 12 touchdowns as a rusher and 23-203 as a receiver before going undrafted last spring.
As for Thompson, he is reunited with his old HC Jay Gruden, who is now the OC for the Jaguars. He's a very good third-down back, so we may see some sort of committee with Armstead/Ozigbo vying for carries on early downs and Thompson handling most of the passing duties. Unfortunately, this may not lead to consistent fantasy production from any of these players. With Fournette's release, Thompson gets a bump since he'll likely see more snaps and a few more carries. Armstead played ahead of Ozigbo last year and he should get the first crack as the starter, provided he can get back up to speed after spending some time on the COVID reserve list in August. The Jaguars have two other rookie running backs on the roster, James Robinson (Illinois State) and Nathan Cottrell (Georgia Tech). Cottrell projects to be a special teamer, while Robinson ran for 1,899 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior while earning consensus first-team FCS All-American honors. The Jaguars probably wouldn't have made this move if they hadn't felt confident about their other options at the position, so obviously they feel good about someone in this group.
As for Fournette, it's unlikely he's going to land in a situation with opportunity as favorable as Jacksonville. The Bears spring to mind as a good fit with David Montgomery on the mend.
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