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Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette hasn’t been the most-behaved player as of late. After missing last week’s game due to a fight that he was involved in with the Buffalo Bills, Fournette was spotted going back and forth with a heckler on the sidelines on Thursday night against the Tennesee Titans.
TMZ Sports got a hold of the footage on Monday after a fan recorded a video on Fournette’s reaction to the fans heckling. Typically, athletes like to respond to hecklers by taunting them. But as the Jaguars were behind in the game by a lot, Fournette couldn’t really react with joking antics about winning. The running back was apparently upset with what was being said.
What started as a verbal argument, ended in Fournette threatening to beat up the heckling fan if he wanted to catch a whooping. “You’re too old for that, you want to come down here? I’ll whoop your [expletive].” Obviously, being that the entire altercation happened in front of many other fans, it was caught on video, and now the Jaguars running back has some explaining to do to his coaches.
Why Did Fournette Go off on the Fan?
At this point in the season, the Jaguars are finished. They are already eliminated from playoff contention. Just because they are already done though, doesn’t mean that they can start acting unprofessionally. Especially Leonard Fournette, who already has a pair of team-issued suspensions in his short two-year stint with the Jags. However, Fournette’s reasoning behind responding to this heckler meant a lot more than just getting upset with a smack-talker while losing the football game.
After the video was released on Monday, the Jaguars coaching staff were made aware of what went down from the fans perspective. According to Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone, Fournette responded to a racial slur from the fan, not just taunting from losing and that’s why Fournette ended up losing his cool.
“Tad showed it to me prior to our walkthrough today,” Marrone said, via USA Today. “And then when I was out on the field after our walkthrough, I met with Leonard. He said there was a racial slur, so that’s what was told to me.”
There were no indications of Fournette facing any sort of suspension again by the team, and at this point, there probably won’t be. Marrone stated that Jacksonville’s coaching staff trusts Fournette and his word, and they understand why he ended up losing his temper. Will the NFL understand? Well, we’re not exactly sure yet. We will see soon if the NFL will issue some sort of fine for Fournette this week or not.