Jaguars to Be Patient With Decision on Leonard Fournette’s Contract After ‘He Had a Very Nice Year’
While most of the discussion around contracts for the Jacksonville Jaguars have centered around impending free agent defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, there is another key player who will be due for a new deal sooner than later — Leonard Fournette.
Fournette, selected with the fourth overall selection in 2017, will be entering the final year of his rookie deal in 2020. And before the season begins, Jacksonville will have to decide whether they want to pick up Fournette's fifth-year option or potentially even rework his contract to extend his time in Jacksonville.
But for now, the Jaguars aren't rushing to make any decisions on Fournette's contract status, instead focusing on the free agency cycle in March and the NFL draft in April.
“I think our vision right now is we have free agency, we have the draft and we have the fifth-year option," general manager Dave Caldwell said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. "Any extensions and stuff like that with other players, I think will take place whether it is after the draft or when we decide that. I think one step at a time right now and that is free agency.”
For top 10 picks, the fifth-year option serves as a big jump in pay. 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. This means the option is worth the average of the 10 highest salaries at the position. According to OverTheCap.com, the projected cost of the transition tag for running backs in 2020 is $10.189 million,
Fournette's 2019 season was a revelation compared to his performance in 2018, earning him high praise from Caldwell and head coach Doug Marrone on Tuesday.
After a sophomore season that saw Fournette have massive issues on and off the field, he ended up posting career-highs in rushing yards (1,152), yards per carry average (4.3), receptions (76), receiving yards (522 yards), and regular season games played (15). Had Fournette not dealt with an illness in Week 17, he would have played the entire season.
“I think he had a very nice year," Caldwell said. "I think he was trending in the top three in the league in yards from scrimmage and had close to 80 catches and ended up finishing sixth in the league in yards from scrimmage with missing the last game. He probably would have finished in the top five.”
The only real knock on Fournette's 2019 season was his inability to score, with him recording a career-low three touchdowns. He had five touchdowns in 2018, despite playing in only eight games, but Marrone pointed out that issues with scoring were not limited to Fournette in 2019.
"Unfortunately it was not just Leonard [who didn’t score a lot], I think it was everyone, we didn’t get into the end zone enough," Marrone said. I think as we get better around ourselves and the players and we get better in the year coming … I think we have to do a better job coaching-wise situationally in the red zone to score those touchdowns, and I think they will come.
"I think Leonard did everything that we wanted him to do – you talk about a workhorse. A guy that carried the load, a guy that had a ton of receptions," Marrone said. "He did a lot of great things for us coming out of the backfield, his protection was probably one of the things he did a heck of a job on this year."
