Leonard Fournette was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and attended St. Augustine High School as a two sport athlete in football and track and field. He accumulated 7,619 rushing yards and 88 rushing touchdowns during his high school career. Fournette was widely regarded as the best running back prospect in his college class and so highly recruited that he was offered a scholarship as a freshman in high school. Ultimately, Fournette, committed to LSU.
As a LSU Tiger Fournette immediately became the teams starting running back and eclipsed 1,000 his freshman season. Fournette’s sophomore season was prolific as he ran for 1,953 yards and scored 23 total touchdowns. He was also featured in the passing game with a 11.9-percent college target share. An ankle injury hobbled Fournette in his final season at LSU however he still rushed for 843 yards in only seven games.
Fournette entered the 2018 NFL draft and participated at the NFL combine running a 4.51 40 time. Measuring at 6 feet and 228 pounds he posted an elite 110.2, 92nd-percentile, Speed Score. He was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the fourth overall pick. During his rookie season, Fournette was a key cog in the Jaguars offense rushing for over 1,000 yards. The following season a hamstring injury resulted in Fournette limited Fournette for most of the season as he accumulated on 153 yards created (no. 41). Fournette saw 100 targets in 2019 and averaged 17.3 fantasy points per game (no. 4).
Fournette was unceremoniously cut by the Jaguars just prior to the start of the 2020 season and eventually signed a contact with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he was a key contributor to the Bucs Super Bowl winning playoff run, garnering the nickname “Playoff Lenny”. Fournette had his best fantasy season in 2021 averaging 18.3 fantasy points per game (no. 3) accumulating 1,265 total yards and 69 receptions.
Soon after Tom Brady unretired, Fournette signed a 3-year, $21 million contract with Tampa that included $12 million guaranteed. He clearly has the juice to be a bell cow running back and an asset in both the running and passing game for the foreseeable future.
