Fournette wish list

Not sold on Snell yet. Conner's recent injury woes, the other rbs eh ok situational backs.

Probably not going to happen for cap reasons. I think he's be a perfect fit for this team.

I'm not convinced the guy tanked in two years. I know he was exceptional playing against us a couple years ago.

Would be cool to have a power feature rb back in the burgh

 

No,since Conner is better that him and Fournette can be a locker room cancer....One good game against a soft defense like the 2017 steelers don't make him a good RB.

 

If he clears waivers and is willing to sign a very very team friendly one year deal then maybe, but I don’t think the team would be interested. They have enough at RB, especially if they think McFarland can contribute this season.

I might give Fournette the benefit of the doubt on the character issues given where he is coming from. Players can’t wait to get away from there. Yanick Nguakwe just took a $6m pay cut to get out of town for example which is absolutely stunning when you think about it!

 

Connor is nearly as strong a runner as fournette with better hands.... Snell showed me a lot last season and is in better shape this yr, while McFarland is basically willie parker with a little more wiggle...….
If one goes down, I have full confidence that the next man up can handle the load...…….. and also, Fournette is on the injured list as much as anyone..
Unless Christian McCaffrey or Derrick Henry become available, we are all set

 

Those other backs are too good to be released

 

Fournette situation is very similar to Bettis and the Rams. Bettis was with the Rams 3 years. The font office had soured on Bettis. Bettis tried to play on an ankle injury and his production suffered. While he was trying to get a new contract, the Rams didn't think Bettis would last long for the NFL. The Rams were bad-mouthing Bettis, which actually lowered his trade value.

The Jags haven't really bad-mouthed Fournette, Fournette has done a lot of that on his own. The only reason I would not sign Fournette is because the locker room seems to have good chemistry. Fournette would fit in well if the Steelers wanted to play smash mouth football again. With #7 calling the plays, smash mount isn't coming back.

I could see Fournette being a possibility in 2021, if he hasn't become Corey Dillon in New England yet.

 

Fournette was overworked in college and when he got to the pros, it's showed. I don't think he has enough left to be a feature back in the league, just my opinion.
I will say, he turned in one of the greatest performances I've ever see live, vs. Syracuse in 2015. I had an endzone seat up high and it was the perfect spot to watch his performance. He had around 250 rushing yards. About 150 of them came on 3 plays, but it was the other 100 yards that were the most impressive. He rarely went down with less than 3 men tackling him, and it was usually more like 8.

 

I am all in on Fournette. I think LF would love being a Steeler. It could turn his whole career around the same way it did for Bettis. Heads and tails better than Conner in my opinion. If they can find a way to make the numbers work, this is a no-brainer to me. Our backs are lackluster, and thats being kind.

 

The number is $4m for one year if he gets to Pitt at 18 on the waiver wire. Given that the Jags would have accepted virtually anything for him before they waived him he might well fall that far, other teams have already had the opportunity to pick him up cheap and they chose not to. Maybe a RB needy team like Miami picks him up but you’d really wonder why they didn’t just trade a late round pick for him and guarantee the signing before now if they were interested.

He is a real talent and would certainly be an asset in this offence, and like I said above I would not expect any major behaviour problems if he lands in the right spot. That Jaguars locker room seems to make people go crazy.

For those questioning his production we must remember that he faced stacked boxes all the time in Jax, nobody feared Bortles or Minshew so it was a tough sled for Fournette, much like it was for the Steelers backs last year with Hodges under center. I think there is a chance he could go off in the right offence. He actually had 1600 scrimmage yards last year despite having a down year.

I’ll be very interested to see how many claims there are on him, if any. It seems unbelievable that nobody was willing to give up a late pick for him.

 

When no one will trade a roast beef sandwich for you, you aren’t worth a roast beef sandwich.

- Confucius

 

Conner is not better than Fournette. He isn't even more durable than Fournette, which tells you something bad about Conner. He also doesn't have better hands than Fournette, who is actually a pretty good receiver out of the backfield.

I understand the idea of passing on Fournette for character reasons, but let's be honest about the guy's ability.

 

Fournette seems to always be nicked up. Doesn't he have conditioning issues as well?

 

I think that was a bit exaggerated. He missed a couple of stretches with various injuries, what running back hasn’t? The conditioning issues in 2018 were down to being injured and being unable to do conditioning work for a prolonged period. IIRC he owned it and came in last season in great shape, he is a tremendous athlete. The main knock on him seems to be that he is a bit of a bonehead.

@Formerscribe I agree that he is a better player than anything the Steelers have and he is much better in the passing game than he is given credit for, albeit Conner is also good at that.

I’d like to see what Fournette could do with better blocking and in a team with a passing threat to keep the defence honest. I don’t think it will be the Steelers though. He will probably end up in Miami or Washington for more of the same as what he endured in Jacksonville

 

With the current personnel in our backfield Fournette would easily be worth looking at and even making an offer to.

 

He is not worth it. The difference between he and Conner is not worth the cancer in the locker room, always pouting, always late for meetings always a problem child. Dont't need him with Ben back and the pressure off the running backs. Not like last year because games were all close and limited passing put a lot more emphasis on running. Defenses with Ben at the helm teams runs shouldn't be so predictable and with the addition of McFarland we could have something special.

 

Looking at the Waiver Wire position I like Chicago as the winner to land Fournette.

 

Exaggerated? Not so sure.

From an artilcle today in BTSC:

Injury History

Fournette is the definition of a bell cow running back. Big, bruising and imposes his will on defenders, just ask Mike Mitchell. However, this style of running doesn’t necessarily lead to longevity, and Fournette has dealt with injuries every year of his career. Swapping one injury prone running back for another isn’t something the Steelers should be interested in. Although the were both drafted in 2017, James Conner actually has one more regular season game played than Fournette. If Steelers’ fans think Conner misses too much time, Fournette is no better

 

I meant the conditioning issue was exaggerated. He couldn’t train in 2018 because of a prolonged ankle issue and so was understandably out of football shape, yet the media portrayed it as an attitude / effort issue.

You are right in that he has missed a few games a season since he came in to the league, nothing unusual for the position. Very few backs will give you 16 games year in year out, especially not violent runners like Fournette as you have alluded to above.

I agree he is not enough of an upgrade on what they have to bother with him quite honestly, especially not at $4m. I really want to see what James Conner and Benny Snell can do in a better offence with Ben

 

Fumbles since 2018

Conner 5
Fournette 1

Just sayin

 

The one thing that has always impressed me when the Jags and Steelers played during the 4 yrs he has been in the league is that he was a goaline specialist. 4 million is a lot to pay a guy to hurdle the pile but Fournette did it time and time again. Going to be interesting where ever he goes.

 

He has cleared waivers unsurprisingly, so the Jags will probably end up paying him the $4m and he can go wherever he wants

Edit: my money is on the Pats for the league minimum