Leonard Fournette Signs With The Bills
This morning news broke that the Buffalo Bills have added running back Leonard Fournette to their practice squad. The 28-year-old, six year veteran had gone unsigned all through the offseason and through most of the first eight weeks of the regular season. With the abundance of injuries at the running back position many assumed some running back needy team would be willing to take a chance on Fournette. The issue was it was also assumed that Fournette most likely wanted to sign with a contender. Now, both have happened. While Fournette’s best years are behind him he still may have enough left in the tank to contribute to a Bills team that lost Damien Harris to injury for at least the next two weeks. This was a low-risk, medium-reward signing that could benefit all involved. Below I look at the potential fantasy implications and expectations now that Fournette has found a new home.
RB Leonard Fournette is signing with Bills practice squad. (via @TomPelissero) pic.twitter.com/JkQjxIZjyt
— NFL (@NFL) October 30, 2023
Fantasy Outlook for Leonard Fournette
At this time the top two running backs on the Bills depth chart are James Cook and Latavius Murray. We will look at what this means for them in a moment, but as for Fournette he will clearly have more fantasy value on a team than not. How much value remains to be seen, but when we last saw him play football, Fournette was effective from a fantasy perspective. In 16 games in 2022, Fournette managed double digits in 12 of them, scoring 20+ points in two and even over 30 in one. He was able to do this due to being heavily involved in both the run and passing game. Fournette saw at least six targets in over half of his games. This is an aspect to his game that Murray does not possess and for a Bills team that loves to pass I could see Fournette’s pass-catching skills being utilized. The issue is that James Cook is a solid pass-catcher as well, so where Fournette fits in is hard to predict. He is unlikely to see anywhere near the type of volume he saw in Tampa Bay, but if he looks good in practice this week and gets elevated off the practice squad and signed to the active roster I could see 6-11 touches, but that would be best case scenario. Even if he looks better than Murray and eventually supplants him, Murray has seen more than eight touches in one game this season and has only one double-digit outing, so even if he takes over Murray’s role, there still, most likely, won’t be a ton of fantasy value in it.
Fantasy Outlook for James Cook
Cook’s role in this offense should be safe. Cook has seen 13+ touches in all but one game and should continue to enjoy that type of workload. As the younger, more explosive player the Bills should still look to get the ball in Cook’s hands. It’s difficult to see any path to Fournette significantly cutting into Cook’s usage. They are different players with different skill sets at much different points in their careers. As the RB16 on the season in half-PPR formats, Cook has had a bit of an up and down season, but unless Fournette comes out and surprises everyone by looking like the clear best running back on this team, Cook should remain the RB1. Fournette will most likely serve as depth and a veteran presence that the team can rely on when Cook needs a rest. Fournette may also steal some goal line touches, but that would hurt Murray more than Cook (more on that later.) Anyone who owns Cook in fantasy should continue to view him the same way you always have, as a nice floor RB2 with upside.
Fantasy Outlook for Latavius Murray
Murray’s fantasy value stands to take the biggest hit from this signing. While Fournette does have lead-back pedigree from his time in Jacksonville and Tampa Bay, he will most likely be competing for the No. 2 spot with Murray while Damien Harris recovers. Fournette does bring a superior skill set in the passing game, but, throughout his career, Murray has been the harder runner between the tackles. In the end, it will all come down to who looks better in practice and on the field against actual competition. My guess is that the 28-year-old Fournette has a bit more juice than the 33-year-old Murray, but Murray has been a reliable mover of the chains and goal line back when called upon, and the Bills may prefer to keep him in that role, but if Fournette does have more gas left in the tank and can add a pass-catching element to his game it could very well be Murray who is on the outside looking in.
Conclusion
In reality, Fournette signing with the Bills will have more of an impact on Fournette’s real career and possibility of winning a ring than it will on fantasy football. With Cook serving as the lead back in this offense, Murray and Fournette will be competing for scraps. Even if Fournette wins the RB2 role outright, with his ability to pass catches out of the backfield, he would have only a bit more value than Murray does now, and we’ve all seen how that’s worked out. If you have space on your bench, it’s not a horrible idea to add Fournette and see how it plays out, but I can’t, in good conscience, recommend dropping anyone that already has a clear role on their team for a veteran who has remain unsigned until now. It’s likely he’s remained unsigned for a reason.