Chris Thompson Expresses Shock on Jaguars Releasing Leonard Fournette
The sudden release of Leonard Fournette by the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday morning came to a surprise to many in the football world, and those within the team's own locker room were not excluded from being stunned.
“Yeah, we were shocked about it," Jaguars running back Chris Thompson said in a video press conference with media Tuesday.
"He came in the room a couple of minutes before our team meeting and let us know that he had gotten released. We didn’t believe it. We thought he was joking because, you know, he laughs and jokes with us all the time."
Thompson and Fournette had not been teammates for long, with the eighth-year back signing with the Jaguars in just this past May. But Fournette was one of the biggest names on the roster and the former No. 4 overall pick was widely expected to be the team's bell cow back in Week 1 vs. the Indianapolis Colts.
But the Jaguars clearly had other plans. The team released Fournette just 13 days before the first game of the season, ending his three-year tenure with the team before his contract year could even get off of the ground.
"It wasn’t really until [Head] Coach [Doug] Marrone said it in the team meeting that we really believed it. It was a shocker for everybody," Thompson said.
"The mood was just different that day, or different yesterday at practice but you know, it’s the NFL and we just have to rock with the decision that’s being made.”
With Fournette gone, the Jaguars will have to turn to Thompson and a trio of young running backs to carry the load. Second-year backs Devine Ozigbo and Ryquell Armstead and undrafted rookie James Robinson all have a chance to establish themself as potential answers at the running back position, but it surely isn't a situation any member of the group envisioned heading into training camp.
But it is now the reality facing the group and the rest of the team. They will be moving forward without Fournette, and they will have the collectively step up to ensure the Jaguars get production out of their running game.
“I mean that’s one thing that we have to do. We have to, for one, just deal with it and that situation. From there, we have to go back to work," Thompson said.
"For me, I have to be one of those guys, since I’m the oldest one in the room, to be able to tell these guys like, “Hey, this is unfortunate. I didn’t want him to leave here. I was really getting to know him and just having fun just being around him everyday and getting to know who he truly is and his background and everything.” But, [I’m] just letting those guys know that these things happen and we didn’t know what decisions were going to be made here in the next couple of days [since] we have to cut [the roster] down to fifty three. You just have to roll with the punches, and we all have a job to do."
Thompson, Ozigbo, Armstead, Robinson and maybe even others will now have a chance to show the Jaguars and the rest of the league what they can do now that Fournette will not be taking the bulk of the carries. The move came as a shock to everyone involved, but it doesn't mean the group will have any excuse to not be prepared for when their number is called.
"I'm excited for the opportunities. Every single day I just get myself as ready as I possibly can, as far as the way that I practice [and] the way that I condition after practice, because anything can happen at anytime or injuries happen," Thompson said.
"That’s just part of the game so you never know. You can’t sit back and say, ‘Hey, Leonard is going to be the guy. He’s going to take all [of] the reps or whatever’ and then something like this just happened and it shocked all of us. So, for me [and] the way I prepared, the decision came as a shock, but the opportunity, not so much.”
