FAB 3. Fournette Will Turn Things Around In Tampa

SI.com’s Albert Breer had some interesting things to say about new Tampa Bay running back Leonard Fournette in his recent Monday Morning Quarterback column. Let’s start with Breer’s story and I’ll offer my analysis afterwards.

Bucs RB Leonard Fournette – Photo by: Getty Images

“Fournette’s story, while we’re here, is a great cautionary tale on fit. And really this story starts with Fournette as a 15-year-old – which is around the age he became a local icon of sorts in New Orleans. From that point forward, he was treated as if he was the LeBron James of football (I actually went to see him play back then, on the advice of ex-Patriot and LSU star Kevin Faulk) by the people around him. By the time NFL teams had started to dig into who Fournette was, there was no secret to it. Rumors of special treatment at LSU were out there (example: He didn’t have to stay at the team hotel with the rest of the players the night before games), as was the rep he’d grown, and maybe it was a result of all this, as someone who didn’t deal well with authority. Ex-Jacksonville EVP Tom Coughlin was warned how Fournette might not be a match for the program he and Marrone were planning to build. Then, after a great first year, the chickens came home to roost. He could be moody and grumpy, and mostly because he was never going to fit into a my-way-or-the-highway environment. Those who did have a good relationship with him were the ones who met him halfway. Others thought Fournette was more enamored of the things that football afforded him than of the game itself. And things got to the point last year where he was late and would fall asleep in meetings, so the writing was on the wall on this one. Now, it’s possible things are a lot different in Tampa. Bruce Arians has always been able to handle egos, and the locker room there is very strong (the Jaguars did believe losing leaders like Marcedes Lewis, Paul Posluszny and Chris Ivory after his first year affected Fournette’s behavior). And even if Fournette’s style is a little dated, his talent is undeniable. For all those reasons, I can see why Tampa took a flier. But given the history, it’s not hard to see where things went wrong in Jacksonville—or why he’s gone.”

Some athletes gaining a sense of entitlement from fame and adoration is not a new phenomenon. The “five-star virus” has been around for decades. And it can be difficult when special accommodations are taken away or special treatment evaporates at the NFL level.

Bucs RB Leonard Fournette – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The “my way or the highway approach” can work in the NFL if it’s coming from the right place. It’s crystal clear that head coach Bruce Arians is in charge in Tampa Bay and isn’t afraid to cuss a player out, but he’ll go hug them afterwards and tell him that he’s still a fan him personally – just not the football player who was screwing up on the field. That matters to players.

The general sense in Jacksonville was that Coughlin didn’t care for the players as men, and just saw them as employees of the Jaguars organization. That’s why so many Jaguars wanted out en masse, especially the team’s star players, such as Pro Bowl cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Pro Bowl defensive ends Calais Campbell and Yannick Ngakoue. The culture stunk in Jacksonville.

The difference between the departures of Ramsey, Campbell and Ngakoue is that those Jaguars were traded by the team and didn’t have to see their pay cut in half at their next destination. Ramsey even got a lucrative contract extension with the Rams. Fournette was outright released a week ago after Jacksonville couldn’t find a willing trade partner – even for a seventh-round pick.

Fournette was due to make $4.17 million in salary in 2020 with Jacksonville, and will now make $2 million with another $1.5 million available in incentives. There’s a humbling nature in being released and then having to take a pay cut and sign for just a one-year deal. That should motivate Fournette to have a rebound year as a Buccaneer.

Fournette is smart and realizes the opportunity he has to restart his career – and reputation – in Tampa Bay playing alongside some of the league’s great players in quarterback Tom Brady, wide receiver Mike Evans and tight end Rob Gronkowski, who should be able to provide the kind of leadership the 25-year old was missing the last couple of years in Jacksonville. Being around winners and true professionals like Brady, Evans and Gronkowski and others in the Bucs locker room should turn Fournette’s attitude around.

And let’s face it. Jacksonville has become the cesspool of the NFL, and it seems inevitable that head coach Doug Marrone gets fired after this year, just as Coughlin was in late December last year. It’s understandable that a young player like Fournette would adopt the loser mentality that permeated the Jaguars organization and contributed in the team’s sharp decline and sudden drop off from a 10-6 record and being in the 2017 AFC Championship Game during Fournette’s rookie season to back-to-back years of double-digit losses.

Bucs RBs Ronald Jones II, LeSean McCoy and Leonard Fournette – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I think just me coming to Tampa made perfect sense,” Fournette said. “I feel like they had all the keys that I needed and vice versa. I can help the team out, and also, they can help me. I think it’s probably one of my first seasons running in a six-man box – which is a smart part on me. I made sure all that was in consideration with me coming here. The coaching staff [is full of] great guys I’ve been knowing, so it was a perfect fit for me.”

Adding a talented player like the 6-foot, 228-pound Fournette was a tremendous move by general manager Jason Licht and the Buccaneers, and their gamble on his character is going to pay off big time this season. So much so, that Fournette might want to stick around Tampa Bay beyond 2020. I have a good feeling about this acquisition.