Eagles Should Just Say No to Leonard Fournette

The Jacksonville Jaguars have gone from agonizingly close to the Super Bowl to tanking for Trevor Lawrence faster than a Lamborghini can get from zero-to-60.

That might be depressing for the fans on Florida’s First Coast but for the rest of the NFL, it means opportunity, understanding Shad and Tony Khan have the for-sale sign up.

Yannick Ngakoue, the 25-year-old proven edge rusher, has been trying to force his own exit on social media with Philadelphia as his preferred destination, something that has made him very popular with the Eagles’ fanbase.

While those fans zig, it’s not inconceivable that the Eagles zag and target the latest high-profile Jacksonville player being shopped, running back Leonard Fournette.

The Jags have until May 4 to exercise their fifth-year option on Fournette, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2017 draft. Like most teams that draft running backs at a spot like that, buyer’s remorse kicks in as a second contract looms.

For now, Fournette, 25, remains relatively cost-effective with a $4.16 million base salary for 2020 but he’s coming off his career-best season with 1,152 rushing yards and another 522 receiving on 76 receptions, the latter numbers pretty darn good for a guy who came into the NFL as a bulldozing 6-foot, 230-pound back.

From a philosophy standpoint, the Eagles have similar beliefs as Jacksonville does now in that they are not going to allocate significant financial assets to RB unless it was a special Christian McCaffrey-like dual threat.

What Philadelphia does want is the thunder to Miles Sanders’ lightning for the committee approach Doug Pederson prefers.

Fournette would be a better option than other big backs during the Pederson era like LeGarrette Blount, Jay Ajayi, and Jordan Howard.

He also wouldn't cost much in return, likely only a late-round draft choice, due to only one year left as that cost-effective option before either the expensive fifth-year option kicks in or an extension is reached.

There are significant issues with the one-and-done path the Eagles used with Howard last season, however.

As a fifth-round pick, Howard had no fifth-year option and the difference is significant. Say the Eagles make the move to acquire Fournette and decline the fifth-year option. That strategy essentially alerts the player to the fact that he’s a lame duck and Fournette was knocked during his first couple seasons in Jacksonville for a lack of commitment before turning the corner.

Conversely, exercising the fifth-year option is untenable and the reason Fournette is on the market in the first place.

The salary for the option for players picked within the first 10 picks equals the cost of the transition tender at the player's position when the option is picked up. That formula means the option is worth the average of the 10 highest salaries at the position.

So the verdict here is no on Eagles' interest in Fournette.

From a football perspective it's a nice luxury but not from a cap perspective it's just not a fit.

John McMullen covers the Eagles for SI.com and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every day on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, Every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio, and every weekday on ESPN 97.3 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen