Jacksonville Jaguars who deserve a contract extension

Leonard Fournette

While the Jacksonville Jaguars are more likely to trade him than extend him, they should at least explore the latter option as they don’t have great options behind him on the depth chart. It may also be foolish of the front office to let him go for simply nothing as Leonard Fournette is the guy they took with the fourth overall pick in the 2017 draft.

Another thing to note, if they let go of him, they will have to find a new running back to take the helm and start from scratch rather than have someone like Fournette who’s familiar with the organization.

Fournette is set to make $4,167,388 in 2020 and will then become a free agent as the Jaguars declined his fifth-year option. While that might have been a mistake, it doesn’t mean they can’t sign him to an extension.

In his career, Fournette has had 666 rush attempts for 2,631 yards, averaging four yards a carry while rushing into the endzone 17 times and getting 124 first downs on the ground. He’s also great at controlling the ball as he’s only fumbled the ball twice. In the air, he has 134 receptions for 1,009 yards with two touchdowns and 48 first downs.

As the Jaguars may not want to commit fully to Fournette, they could offer him a three-year deal in the range of $6-8 million per year with the third year of his contract being non-guaranteed.

That way Fournette can prove to the organization there’s still untapped potential left and the Jaguars can have a decent running back on the roster. If he fails to live up to expectations, the Jaguars can let go of him and Fournette can enter free agency at the young age of 28 or 29.