Leonard Fournette currently sits as the ninth ranked running back in both PPR and half-point PPR formats. That is RB1 territory and if you haven’t watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play, you’d assume the former LSU Tiger would be having an outstanding season.
In reality, Fournette is another example of a good fantasy football, bad real life player. On the field, he is a slow, plodding running back behind a poor offensive line. The onetime Jaguar only has a single game with more than 65 rushing yards and has finished with less than 40 yards on five occasions this season.
Where Tom Brady’s backfield mate is making his hay is on nothing receptions. He has caught 42 passes through nine games with most of these being of the go nowhere variety. Fournette will have one or two decent chunk catches. The rest are hapless checkdowns.
It is hard to know who to blame for Tampa Bay’s struggles, but the constant stream of three-yard passes to Fournette is not helping matters. At least in real life. It is great for fantasy football managers.
The eye test is where Fournette really fails. He may only be 27 but he moves similarly to a 45-year-old dad playing with his kids at the park. There is no explosiveness or speed. It is like the guy is running on a field of Nickelodeon Gak. How can an NFL running back be so slow?
But none of that matters. A player doesn’t have to be good in real life to be good at fantasy football. It is the weird conundrum that all managers must navigate. It is perhaps the biggest challenge many of his face in any given season.
Can we start players who we know aren’t good in real life? Those who rode the Blake Bortles garbage-time train or milked LeGarrette Blount for every last TD were usually rewarded. It was just brutal to watch.
This season, Leonard Fournette is the classic good fantasy football, bad real life player. The guy who you cringe when watching the games but celebrate when it comes time to check your fantasy scores.
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