Report: Leonard Fournette to work out for the Patriots
Free agent running back Leonard Fournette has a workout with the New England Patriots this week, according to NFL insider Tom Pelissero. Pelissero reports that the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player is in Foxborough on Wednesday.
This is not the first time Fournette has considered the Patriots, he even had one previous visit with the team before Tom Brady announced he was unretiring to rejoin the Bucs for the 2022 season.
For New England, Fournette could provide valuable assistance to running back Rhamondre Stevenson.
Given the current running back market, the former first-rounder could struggle to get a deal as nice as his last one. The Bucs signed him for three years at $21 million in March of 2022, just a year before releasing him. His prior deals were each for one year, first $2 million in 2020, then $3.25 million in 2021.
Patriots eye former Bucs running back
The 28-year-old struggled as a rusher last season, posting 3.5 yards per attempt, but he also caught 73 passes. With his receptions, Fournette’s all-purpose yardage for Tampa Bay last season was over 1,100 yards.
He had a career-high 523 receiving yards and three touchdowns in the air to go with 668 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground in 2022.
Fournette appeared in 14 games, including nine starts, one year after starting 13 of 14 games. During the Buccaneers’ championship run in 2021, he posted 812 yards on 180 carries with eight touchdowns.
Fournette started his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who drafted him with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft out of LSU. On the whole, he has 4,478 rushing yards, 2,219 receiving yards and 41 total touchdowns across his six years in the league.
Fournette allegedly ‘racing’ at the time of car explosion
A newly uncovered police report revealed troubling details about a mysterious car fire last month.
According to TMZ, the Florida Highway Patrol documents say that a witness came to the cops with the allegations shortly after Leonard Fournette revealed his car was destroyed while on a Hillsborough County highway on June 27.
The police report includes the witness’s claim that Fournette was traveling “at a high rate of speed” when he drove past him. Then, the witness stated he observed the vehicle and a motorcycle “racing and changing lanes.”
He stated he observed the vehicles “racing when fire then erupted from the bottom of” Fournette’s car. The witness recalled seeing the running back stop and get out of the car, while the motorcycle sped off.
In Fournette’s statements to the police, he told them he had “been having problems with the vehicle as of late.”
Despite the suspicious circumstances, the Florida Highway Patrol told TMZ that “no further action is expected at this point.”