Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette had a solid rookie year and gave the fans down in Duval a lot to look forward to in 2018, but he unfortunately took a huge step backward. He sustained a hamstring injury Week 1 which sidelined him for three weeks and re-aggravated the injury Week 4, which caused him to miss four more games.
After returning, the young tailback got into a scuffle with Shaq Lawson of the Buffalo Bills Week 12, which resulted in a suspension. To make matters worse, he ended the season on a low note after being called out by Jags executive Tom Coughlin for his actions on the sideline in Week 17’s season finale, which left fans to wonder about his future. However, the team didn’t give up and he’ll now have the chance to be their primary weapon according to new offensive coordinator John DeFilippo.
Just as many fans are pulling for Fournette, NFL Network analyst Nate Burleson is, too. In a recent episode of “Good Morning Football,” the former Detroit Lions star stated that he’s expecting a big year from Fournette. In a nutshell, Burleson stated that he believes Fournette will have a chip on his shoulder and that it will fuel him to be more along the lines of what we saw in 2017 — if not better.
If Fournette is to prove Burleson and some of the Jags’ fanbase right, he’ll first need to stay healthy and cut out his mistakes that have resulted in suspension. In just two years he’s managed to miss 13 games, which is just three from a full season. Simply put, that’s not good for a young player who was drafted fourth overall.
Another element of Fournette’s game that will need to change is his yard per carry average as he finished 2018 with a 3.3 average and 2017 with a 3.9 average. As we’ve seen in the past with guys like Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor, tailbacks aren’t truly viewed as a threat until they have a YPC aver of four or more, which should be a breeze for a tailback drafted as high as Fournette.
In the early stages of the 2019 season, fans will definitely get to see if Fournette brought his A-game as they’ll be taking on the Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos in the first quarter of the season. All of those games will almost certainly require the Jags offense to be physical and reduce the amount of time the opposing offenses get to work their magic.
