Former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette went unclaimed on the waiver wire Tuesday. As a result, the 25-year-old is officially a free-agent who will have the luxury to sign wherever he wants.
However, while he finds a team he’ll also be looking to recoup his base salary of $4.167 million, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Leonard Fournette cleared waivers, per source. He’s a free agent.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 1, 2020
As many fans can recall, the Jags made the decision to void the remaining guarantees on Fournette’s contract after he was suspended in 2018 for throwing punches at then Buffalo Bills pass-rusher Shaq Lawson. As a result, he was suspended for the following game for penalties of unsportsmanlike conduct and unnecessary roughness. With his rookie deal being fully guaranteed, it’s not surprising that Fournette would look to recoup the money left on the table from his contract and ultimately time will tell if he gets it.
Fournette was abruptly waived by the Jags Monday morning after spending only three regular seasons with the team. Coach Doug Marrone told the media that it had nothing to do with any behavior or any off-the-field related issues, but was more so due to what they saw from their other tailbacks in practice.
Marrone also added that the team was unable to trade Fournette, meaning they exercised all options.
“Well, I think what happened was I tried to challenge everyone, coaches and scouts, to look at what we’ve been doing in practice. Not knowing how the players are going to come back, not knowing who we had, not having a lot of experience to them and that we’d have to make good decisions on what’s best for the team. Let’s not go ahead and say ‘well, because this player did this before, we’ll get the same type of results’,” Marrone said.
“Really we’ve just tried to take the team and put the best team together from what we’ve seen in our practices. At the end of the day, I felt that was the best decision for our team and think it gives us the best opportunity with the skill sets that we have with the other players in there. I just felt that’s what’s best for the team. And doing it now, we’ve exhausted all trade opportunities and weren’t able to get anything there so I just felt we can now work on the team, the plan, and getting ready for the season.”
Fournette entered 2020 with 2,631 career rushing yards and 17 touchdowns. Some teams who seem to be fits include the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears, and Kansas City Chiefs to name a few.