Leonard Fournette has been one of the most important focal points of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense over the course of the past few years. Fournette as a running back has the ability to be a game changer, picking up key 1st downs, driving the ball in down on the goal line, and he still has the speed to breakaways for some longer runs, making defenses take into account our run game and not sell out to stop the pass.
Where Fournette has been able to really push our offense forward, is by being a dual threat Running Back. It’s no secret that a solid check down option is CRITICAL in a Tom Brady led offense. Brady goes through his progressions with ease, and will often find his check down and take what the defense gives him if his downfield options are not open.
It is clear moving into week 6 of the regular season that Fournette is still one of Brady’s most trusted receivers, as he is currently the team’s second leading receiver in terms of both yardage and receiving touchdowns so far this season, with only Mike Evans ranking higher than him in each of these categories. That speaks both to the consistency of Fournette, and the roster inconsistency we have seen from the receiving corps so far this season, with the majority of our receivers having missed at least one game and many missing multiple games.
We have all seen the struggles that our offense has faced this season, and we have a long way to go to become the explosive offense that it will take for a deep playoff run, and to do so, it looks like we will have to keep working to get Leonard Fournette the ball. It appears that while our offense is struggling, Fournette can be the playmaker that we need to lean on, to help open the door for some of our other playmakers.
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