The Jacksonville Jaguars have given up running back Leonard Fournette, the team announced Monday.
The move ends a tumultuous three-year streak in which Fournette racked up 2,631 yards and 17 touchdowns. The Jaguars didn’t choose his fifth-year option during the offseason and actively pursued a trade without receiving serious offers.
Fournette, 25, was the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. He was the first draft pick for Tom Coughlin, the team’s former executive vice president of football operations. Coughlin wanted to build the team around a power play and dominant defense, and while it worked in 2017, when the Jaguars reached the AFC Championship game, things didn’t always work out. smoothly between Fournette and the team.
Fournette’s tenure at Jacksonville took a turn in 2018, which ended up being the worst season of his footballing life. He was injured, suspended and on the bench at a critical time. He’s been fined, criticized and admittedly not in great shape at the end of the year. The Jaguars canceled any remaining guarantees in his rookie contract following his one-game suspension for fighting with Buffalo linebacker Shaq Lawson, and Coughlin tore him up for being ‘disrespectful’ and ‘selfish For sitting on the bench – while injured and inactive. – during the season finale.
Adding to the chaos, Fournette was arrested in April 2019 for driving with a suspended license.
He responded in 2019 with a career season in which he exceeded 1,600 scrimmage yards in 15 games last season, carrying 265 times for 1,152 yards and catching 76 passes for 522 yards.
It’s the second major move for the Jaguars in the past two days, as sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Sunday that Jacksonville had agreed to trade franchise defensive end Yannick Ngakoue for the Minnesota Vikings for a pair of draft picks.
ESPN’s Michael DiRocco and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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