Leonard Fournette is poised to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers here soon.
Leonard Fournette leaves one NFL team based in Florida only to join another.
According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, “The Bucs and RB Leonard Fournette have an agreement in principle, source said. And Tom Brady has a new RB. A big-time one.” Fournette was released by the team who drafted him No. 4 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft in the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier in the week. He now joins the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Super Bowl aspirations.
Does Leonard Fournette help get the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Super Bowl 55?
Tampa Bay continues to crush the offseason. The Buccaneers won the Tom Brady sweepstakes, and because of this, were able to convince tight end Rob Gronkowski to come out of retirement and be traded to this Mötley Crüe. With Mike Evans and Chris Godwin as arguably the best wide receiver tandem in football, only the running back corps was lacking for the Buccaneers.
Though they drafted Ke’Shawn Vaughn out of Vanderbilt and have guys like Ronald Jones II and LeSean McCoy on the roster, we weren’t entirely convinced Tampa Bay had a 1,000-yard rusher among them. Despite Fournette’s faults as a bell-cow back, he is a two-time 1,000-yard rusher and a newfound receiver out of the backfield. Bruce Arians and Byron Leftwich have to love this.
Even though Tampa Bay underwent a massive, massive facelift this offseason, the Buccaneers aren’t without their warts. How good is Todd Bowles‘ defense? Do we really trust the offensive line? Is Brady really on the wrong side of 40? And what about not making the NFC playoffs for over a decade. Though all are major concerns, Tampa Bay could play Super Bowl 55 in its own stadium.
It has never been done before, but it’s bound to happen one of these days. Tampa Bay should be a playoff team this year. The Buccaneers may win the NFC South for the first time since 2007 or they may get in as one of three Wild Card teams. Either way, anything less than a 10-6 regular-season record and a playoff berth would be seen a a huge disappointment for this football team.
Fournette makes the Buccaneers a better team because he’ll be the fourth or fifth option on this offense. He may be the Week 1 starter at running back for Tampa Bay, but it will be interesting to see how the depth chart shakes out now that he’s a member of the Buccaneers franchise. We can fire the cannons, as Fournette successfully walked the Jacksonville plank to Tampa Bay.
Fournette to Tampa Bay could make the Buccaneers NFC South favorites at this juncture.