Bears Rate Best Odds to Sign Leonard Fournette
Odds makers must not be too convinced by the Napoleon Maxwell acquisition.
The Bears added Maxwell back to their roster on Monday after cutting him earlier but at the same time they now could sign former Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette if they chose to do so, and odds makers think they will.
According to Bovada,com, the Bears are the favorites to land Fournette at +265. The Patriots are a close second at +285, followed by Tampa Bay at +350, Washington at +375 and Houston at +900.
Jacksonville waived Fournette on Monday after two years of accusations about a bad attitude and being a clubhouse cancer.
The former LSU back had a career-high 1,152 rushing yards and caught a career high 76 passes last season for the Jaguars when Nick Foles was their quarterback to start the season, and also for three other games.
Fournette was the fourth pick of the 2017 draft, taken two spots after Mitchell Trubisky. The Jaguars benefited from a 1,040-yard season by Fournette as a rookie and made the AFC championship game, but they lost to New England.
In 2018 the Jaguars began to crumble and Fournette was suspended a game for unsportsmanlike conduct, then missed seven games with injury issues.
The Bears could be in the market for a running back as David Montgomery is suffering from a groin strain which NFL Network has reported will keep him sidelined two to four weeks.
Fournette had a base salary of $2.93 million last season, and his prorated signing bonus was $4.47 million but the bonus is no longer an issue for a team. What would be an issue is how much a team would need to pay to sign Fournette going forward, now that he's a free agent.
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