I’m thinking Leonard Fournette could play a key role in deciding some fantasy championship games this week. He’s had a terrible year, but he’s ending up in an ideal spot.
Up front, let’s agree that Fournette has been a colossal disappointment. He was a healthy scratch a couple of weeks ago. Fournette busted a long run against Carolina way back in Week 2. Since that time, he’s averaged more than 3.5 yards per carry in only one game.
The Jaguars knew exactly what they were doing when they released him, opting to instead go with James Robinson as their starting tailback.
But Fournette will starting this week. Ronald Jones is the usual Tampa Bay starter, but he underwent surgery on his pinky last week and is now on the COVID-reserve list.
And as luck would have it, the Bucs this week are playing one of the true punching-bag run defenses. The Lions have allowed a league-high 24 rushing touchdowns. Only one team all year has failed to run for a touchdown against them. And Detroit has also allowed a league-high 8 TD passes to running backs.
It looks unlikely that Fournette will make it through a game against them without falling in the end zone.
If you could have the starting running back against Detroit each week, you would right now be sitting at 1,488 run-rec yards, with 16 TDs.
Fournette. He’s lousy, but should be really good this week.
| STARTING RUNNING BACKS AGAINST LIONS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Run | Rec | T Yds | TD |
| Montgomery, Chi. | 64 | 10 | 74 | 0 |
| A.Jones, G.B. | 168 | 68 | 236 | 3 |
| K.Drake, Ariz. | 73 | 6 | 79 | 0 |
| Kamara, N.O. | 83 | 36 | 119 | 1 |
| J.Robinson, Jac. | 29 | 24 | 53 | 1 |
| Gurley, Atl. | 63 | 19 | 82 | 2 |
| J.Taylor, Ind. | 22 | 9 | 31 | 0 |
| D.Cook, Min. | 206 | 46 | 252 | 2 |
| Gibson, Was. | 45 | 20 | 65 | 2 |
| M.Davis, Car. | 64 | 15 | 79 | 1 |
| Duke Johnson, Hou. | 37 | 43 | 80 | 1 |
| Montgomery, Chi. | 72 | 39 | 111 | 2 |
| A.Jones, G.B. | 69 | 6 | 75 | 0 |
| D.Henry | 147 | 5 | 152 | 1 |
| Fournette, T.B. | ? | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan