Getty Leonard Fournette made good on his Super Bowl prediction well before Tom Brady became a Buccaneer.
Well before he became known as “Playoff Lenny”, Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette predicted he would play in a Super Bowl.
Fournette recently pulled out a 2014 Tweet from his high school senior year, when he wrote “Can’t wait til I play in that Super Bowl” amid the Seattle Seahawks trouncing the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. He shared the old Tweet during the Super Bowl bye week as the Bucs get ready to face Kansas City in Super Bowl LV.
Fournette did his part to make playing in the Super Bowl happen with a big showing in the NFC Playoffs. He rushed for 211 yards and two touchdowns in addition to putting up 102 receiving yards and one touchdown catch. That put him all-time elite company per NFL GameDay. Only running back greats Emmit Smith and Marcus Allen have done the same in one postseason.
Leonard Fournette turned it up for the playoffs 🔥
Fournette earned the nickname “Playoff Lenny” for his dynamic postseason play, something he displayed his last time in the postseason and almost making a Super Bowl. He rushed for 242 yards and four touchdowns in the 2018 AFC playoffs for the Jacksonville Jaguars before falling to the New England Patriots.
He ironically joined future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Tom Brady less than three years later in Tampa as they look to make history. The Jaguars released Fournette shortly before the season, and the Bucs picked him up. Fournette said going to the Bucs “just felt like it was going to be right” in the NFC Championship postgame press conference. He jokingly described Brady, 43, as kind of a father figure for him and his teammates.
“It’s so funny because, you know, he’s 43 years old, you know what I mean? It’s like your father calling you to come do something.” Fournette said on The Rich Eisen Show per JoesBucsFan.com. “He’s always calling me and the running backs, ‘Hey Lenny, Shady (LeSean McCoy), Ro (Ronald Jones II), come get some routes.’ And that’s what we do, and it’s paying off right now.”
It didn’t seem like things were paying off for Fournette at first in Tampa with limited playing time, getting scratched from the depth chart for one game, and finishing with career lows in carries and yards. Things turned around for Fournette in the Wild Card game with 93 yards and a touchdown in place of Ronald Jones II, who had a quad injury.
Bucs running backs coach Todd McNair said Fournette found his way in not being the go-to back all season per Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times.
#GoBucs RBs coach Todd McNair on evolution of Leonard Fournette: “The biggest thing with Leonard was just accepting that he wasn’t the superstar and only guy, and wasn’t ‘the man.’ Once he accepted that, he’s been a trouper man, a soldier.” @_fournette
Fournette even came to the defense of a fellow former feature back, LeSean McCoy, recently after Pro Football Talk described McCoy as “a non-factor” in Tampa due to minimal playing time. Fournette said McCoy has been a mentor for him and fellow running backs on the team.
Fournette put on a clinic with some of his runs this postseason and could steal the show in the Super Bowl and win MVP even, Fox Sports’ Peter Schrager said on Good Morning Football recently.
“Leonard Fournette’s 2020 season is one for all players who’ve been discarded & dismissed by their first teams. He was cut in September by a squad that went 1-15. Now, he’s four quarters away from hoisting a Lombardi Trophy with a team that valued him.”- @PSchrags | @Buccaneers
“Playoff Lenny” may earn a new nickname for his Super Bowl play if he does steal the show.
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