Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell claims there was no serious effort on the team’s part to trade running back Leonard Fournette and that the team is ready to move forward with Fournette in its backfield.
Caldwell told Pro Football Talk reports of the team shopping Fournette to the Miami Dolphins and Atlanta Falcons were unfounded.
“To be honest with you, there were just some minor discussions with that but nothing substantial throughout the draft or prior to the draft,” Caldwell said during his appearance on the PFT PM podcast earlier this week. “I think the mindset is that we’re going to go forward with Leonard on the team. I had a good talk with him on Friday. I know Coach (Doug) Marrone has had some discussion with him. He seems to be in great shape and mental frame of mind, and we feel that he’ll have a great season this year.”
Fournette and the Jaguars appear to be at a crossroads considering his fifth-year contract option was declined ahead of Monday’s deadline.
Fournette rushed for 1,152 yards and had 76 receptions for the Jaguars in 2019.
Caldwell, Marrone and the Jaguars navigated a tumultuous 2019 season in which starting quarterback Nick Foles (since traded) was injured in Week 1 and the Jaguars traded Pro Bowl cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the Los Angeles Rams. Since the offseason began, a larger overhaul included trading defensive end Calais Campbell, releasing defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, trading cornerback A.J. Bouye and using the franchise tag on Yannick Ngakoue. Ngakoue since demanded a trade and vowed not to play for the franchise.
Caldwell said he gets the changes might cause some consternation but the expectations are to compete in the AFC South.
“We can still build this thing and compete at a high level and let the chips fall where they may,” Caldwell said. “I think what we did was we cleaned up the salary cap. We’re in a great working situation with the salary cap not only this year but next year, and also felt like we’ve gotten better from the 6-10 team we had last year or the 5-11 team.
“Although there were a lot of household names that people recognized nationally, the product on the field wasn’t where it needed to be. I would say competing. I would say competing and building for something that can compete this year.”
