Monday morning Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone faced the media less than an hour after the news broke that the team was releasing former first-round pick Leonard Fournette.
With questions coming in left and right about the timing of the situation, Marrone was candid and forthcoming with his response, stating that the decision was based on what was seen on the practice field. He also added that the Jags had exercised every option to trade Fournette.
“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.”
Marrone added that the meeting between the two was also very professional.
Marrone says he told Fournette he was cut. Said meeting went "very professional."#Jaguars
— Mia O'Brien (@MiaOBrienTV) August 31, 2020
This news is a little surprising as Fournette is coming off his best year in the NFL with over 1,600 all-purpose yards. However, the lack of interest in the former Louisiana State Tiger has been well documented since as far back as April. Basically, it sounds as though general manager Dave Caldwell couldn’t get anyone to bite on Fournette after having discussions around the 2020 NFL Draft.
The Jaguars running back room now consists of Chris Thompson, Ryquell Armstead, Devine Ozigbo, and undrafted rookies Nathan Cottrell and James Robinson. With Thompson being the oldest of the group and having experience under Jay Gruden’s system already, it feels as though he’ll be the new leader of the room.
As for adding a running back before Week 1, that feels unlikely at the moment, but ultimately time will tell.