Leonard Fournette was cut by the Jaguars before the start of the season and signed with Tampa Bay for a chance to reestablish his stock on a championship caliber team with Tom Brady.
But before he became ‘Playoff Lenny,’ Fournette had the option to go back on the open market.
In Week 14, the Bucs made Fournette a healthy scratch for their game against the Vikings.
The next day, Fournette met with head coach Bruce Arians to discuss his situation with the team.
“I said, ‘This is your situation. It can change at the drop of a hat,’” Arians told Fournette, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “But this is your situation. Either embrace it, or you say, ‘Cut me.’ I said, ‘What do you want? Because this is a very special team that you’re part of. I think you’ve got a feeling of that. Just see if you can hang in there to see what happens.’ And he did, and I’m really proud of him.”
Starting running back Ronald Jones tested positive for COVID-19 the very next week and Fournette was called on to start.
Then Jones pulled a quad muscle prior to the Wild Card game against Washington and “Playoff Lenny” was born.
Fournette scored a touchdown in all four playoff games and totaled 448 yards en route to a Super Bowl victory.
He reestablished his stock and will have a chance to cash in this offseason when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
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