Leonard Fournette signs with Buccaneers, giving Tom Brady more stability

The Buccaneers have signed running back Leonard Fournette for 2020.

Tom Brady joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made the franchise an immediate Super Bowl contender in the 2020 NFL season. Armed with a good offensive line, young and improving defense, and an elite wide receiver group, Tampa was a near-idyllic landing spot with sky-high potential. But the franchise was left looking for one thing: a running back. And now they’ve found that in Leonard Fournette.

Just a couple of days after being waived by the Jaguars, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport was the first to report on Wednesday night that Fournette agreed to a one-year deal with the Buccaneers for the 2020 season. And with that, Tampa Bay completes a monumental offseason, one that is sure to create Super Bowl expectations.

Fournette confirmed the signing, tweeting out an edit of him in his new uniform:

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Of course, considering the fact that Fournette was just released, you have to wonder on some level why him coming to the Bucs would move the needle. But when you consider the player and what Bruce Arians’ club has been looking for all offseason, it starts to make sense as to why they were an obvious destination for Fournette.

Leonard Fournette gives Tom Brady, Buccaneers a higher floor on offense.

From everything that the Bucs have shown int he 2020 offseason, they like Ronald Jones II, their former second-round pick. Having said that, Jones has yet to prove himself in an NFL regular season. Subsequently, the team has been looking for stability to raise the floor of the offense around Brady in an obvious Super Bowl window.

The first shot in the dark was LeSean McCoy. But after what he showed last year in Kansas City, no one was thinking that moved the needle. Thus, the search continued until the opportunity to add Fournette to the mix popped up.

Yes, Fournette was released — but it wasn’t necessarily because he was a bad player. He was a 1,000-yard rusher in Jacksonville last season but he was also part of a cancerous locker room that the Jags were looking to remedy. Moreover, he was never the game-changer he was expected to be as the No. 4 overall pick in the 2017 draft.

Those expectations aren’t on him now, however. Now, he’s going to be asked to be a power runner that can open up play-action for Brady and all the weapons on the Buccaneers and split time with Jones. He’s more than capable of doing that and doing it well. And in doing so, it’s hard to imagine a world where the Bucs are worse than winning double-digit games in the 2020 campaign.