MJD RB RANKINGS: FOURNETTE LANDS AT 13

Leonard Fournette (David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire)

Maurice Jones-Drew ranks Leonard Fournette the 13th best RB in football. 

BY JORDAN DE LUGO

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Maurice Jones-Drew, who is lovingly known around these parts as MJD, released his RB1 rankings heading into the 2020 NFL season. Who better to rank today's runners than one of the best RBs in recent memory?

The top of the list is littered with the usual suspects: Christian McCaffery, Zeke Elliot, Nick Chubb, Alvin Kamara, Joe Mixon, and Saquon Barkley (who should be higher). 

But where does Jacksonville's own Leonard Fournette land?

Let's take a look:

13. Leonard Fournette

2019 stats: 15 games | 265 att | 1,152 rush yds | 4.3 ypc | 3 rush TDs | 76 rec | 522 rec yds | 0 rec TDs

Fournette bounced back last season after a down 2018, but he wasn't used much in the red zone. With the addition of offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, I expect Fournette , whose fifth-year option wasn't picked up, to get plenty of touches in an effort to protect QB Gardner Minshew and help set up big-play opportunities off play-action. One thing I know for sure is that it's imperative that the Jags get their bell cow going if they want to have any type of success this season.

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The 13-15 range is precisely where Fournette should be. Sure, the LSU product hasn't lived up to his lofty draft status, and he has some issues with vision. But to discount what he's done while facing loaded boxes his entire career would be folly. Despite facing the fourth most eight-man boxes of any runner in 2019, Fournette still finished with the season with 4.3 yards per carry and developed into a weapon as a receiver.

Fournette is a slightly above average starting running back. And that's exactly why the Jaguars didn't pick up his fifth-year option. He's not been good enough to earn that kind of payday, and he certainly hasn't earned a significant long-term contract. But his lack of security heading into 2020 could be a blessing for the Jaguars. We see it every year — players going into the final year of their contract have career years with regularity. 

What will Fournette's future hold? It remains unclear at this point, but reports out of Jacksonville suggesting that coaches don't want him around, and the fact that the team tried to shop him before and during the 2020 NFL Draft, suggests that he'll be searching for gainful employment elsewhere in 2021. 

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