Leonard Fournette proves why he isn’t with the Buccaneers
By John Paul
Leonard Fournette may have been a huge reason behind recent offensive success in Tampa, but the Buccaneers aren’t made of money.
Leonard Fournette has filled a vital role with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since he was signed as a free agent in 2021. He was a major contributor in Tampa’s Super Bowl victory, scoring a crucial touchdown and being a legitimate RB1 for the rest of the playoffs.
Fournette has gone from what was seen as a quick free agent signing to a beloved figure in the Bay area. However, it would appear that Fournette does not intend to remain with the team, despite his success with the Buccaneers.
It’s being reported the free agent running back is in search of a contract of at least $12 million per year, far in excess of his previous $3.25 million contract he signed with the Bucs.
#Bucs free-agent RB Leonard Fournette, was hoping land a contract in the range of $12 million a year, but has not received that type of interest from teams, according to PFT.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) March 21, 2022
The best RB deal this past week went to #Cardinals RB James Conner, a 3-year, $21M deal with $13.5M grt pic.twitter.com/BHt4s8Jdib
This just shows that Fournette has no intentions of remaining with the Buccaneers if he is offered more money elsewhere.
The Buccaneers and Leonard Fournette may have no choice
This is also by no means meant to insult or denigrate Fournette or his abilities. The reality is he puts his health on the line every game, especially at his position. Major injuries occur at a high frequency, so he should absolutely go get as much money as he can while he can.
The Buccaneers should not and simply cannot pay that much for Fournette. Tampa would be better off finding a serviceable running back with good hands for a far cheaper price tag. There are some out there, even if Fournette is the best.
The running back position has seen a meteoric decline in value over the course of the last few seasons, with multiple teams getting burned on massive running back contracts. The Buccaneers can’t become one of those teams.
Especially considering the Bucs are obviously going to run a similar offense to the past few years, which is almost exclusively passing oriented, there is no purpose in spending so much money on a player that will serve a relatively small role in the offense.
All things considered, the Buccaneers would be far wiser to take that $12 million they could spend on Fournette and spend it on fixing several other positions of great need and greater value in the modern game.
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