The Jacksonville Jaguars have been moving towards a rebuild this offseason, and while some aren’t shocked, others are baffled by it. Count running back Leonard Fournette amongst those puzzled by the Jags’ decisions.
Sunday, the young tailback took to Instagram for a live session where he interacted with the fans while playing “Call of Duty.” A fan asked about the team’s decision to trade Calais Campbell and Fournette simply had no answers. However, he did counter with a bit of comedy by proclaiming that he’s the Tim Duncan of the Jags after surviving a big-time purge over the years.
“I don’t know why they [the Jaguars] are trading everybody,” said Fournette. “I’m here though. Listen, I’m Tim Duncan of the Jags! Believe that! Call me Timmy from now on!”
While Fournette remains one of the few players from the Jags’ 2017 roster which went to the AFC playoffs, it feels like almost no player is off-limits to be traded aside from Josh Allen, D.J. Chark, Jawaan Taylor, and maybe Gardner Minshew II. That said, there haven’t been any reports stating the Jags have shopped him or have been asked about him but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily off-limits, especially if they were willing to trade a veteran like Calais Campbell, who they probably wanted to keep.
The Jags are also coming up on a decision on rather or not they will pick up Fournette’s fifth-year option. If they did, that would indicate they probably want his services for 2020 at least. They could very well pass on picking up the option, too, and simply observe how well he plays this upcoming season. If he impresses them, they could extend him down the road. If they aren’t impressed, they wouldn’t be invested in him past January and could simply let him hit the open market.
Fournette had a career-year in yards and yards per carry this past season accumulating totals of 1,152 and 4.3 in each category, respectively. Maybe If he can match those stats in 2020 and get in the end zone more, the Jags may elect to stick with the former first-round pick.
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