Before there was “Playoff Lenny,” there was a moment where Leonard Fournette was in danger of not even being on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their playoff run.
Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians revealed how he guided Fournette after the running back was made inactive for Week 14. Fournette was stuck behind Ronald Jones on the depth chart, and was not taking his lack of playing time well. It led to a meeting with Arians, who gave the running back an ultimatum.
“I said, ‘This is your situation. It can change at the drop of a hat,'” Arians told 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.”
The rest is history. Injuries and health protocols sidelined Jones for much of the remainder of the season and playoffs, and Fournette stepped in to score four postseason touchdowns.
Fournette has been accused of attitude problems before, but they never got better with the Jaguars. It’s entirely possible that Arians’ leadership style got more out of Fournette than anyone in Jacksonville ever did.
