The Jaguars offense should be fine without Leonard Fournette
The Jacksonville Jaguars will be without their lead running back this Sunday when they play against the Kansas City Chiefs. Leonard Fournette, the Jaguars fourth pick in the 2017 draft, aggravated his hamstring injury in Week 4 that he suffered in Week 1. That means the former LSU star will be sitting on the sidelines while his backup T.J. Yeldon will continue to shine this season for Jacksonville.
The Chiefs have their work cut out for them against one of the best defenses, but the Jacksonville offense has proven capable of scoring points when it needs. But what about the loss of Fournette? How much should Chiefs fans read into his absence?
During the 2017 season, whoever had Fournette on their Fantasy team received close to 200 points in just 13 games. Fournette was on fire his rookie year and was No. 8 best running back. In the 13 games he played, he rushed for 1,040 yards and caught another 302 yards worth of passes, totaling 10 touchdowns combined. In the playoffs, Fournette rushed for 242 yards with 44 receiving yards and four touchdowns. But the same can’t be said for the 2018 season.
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So far this season, Fournette has only played in the season opener against the New York Giants where he injured his hamstring in the second quarter. Before the injury, Fournette had nine carries for 41 yards. In Week 4 against the New York Jets, he also had subpar stats. He had 11 carries for 30 yards.
T.J. Yeldon, on the other hand, has been the Jags star running back. When Fournette didn’t play in Week 2 and 3, the Jaguars rushed for a total of 191 yards against New England and Tennessee. Credit for 102 of those yards are given to Yeldon.
Although T.J. Yeldon was ranked No. 64 best running back last year in terms of Fantasy points, he is ranked No. 12 going into Week 5 against the Chiefs. He has already almost met his rushing yards total from last season (253) in 10 games in just this season’s four games (205). He’s also averaging a decent 4.1 yards/carry for the Jags and has helped the offense move the chains in Fournette’s absence.
Yeldon, the team’s 2015 second-round pick, had two rushing touchdowns last season. This season, he has already had one rushing and two receiving touchdowns. He was named starting running back his rookie year and the Jags are now seeing that same performance once again. This is also Yeldon’s job to keep since he’s not getting much help at this point.
The Jaguars other running backs, Corey Grant and Brandon Wilds, haven’t had a great effect on the Jaguars running game. Grant, an undrafted rookie in 2015, has carried the ball 12 times for 32 yards and no touchdowns this season. Wilds played in Week 2 and 3, the two games Fournette didn’t play, and he only had four carries for nine yards.
In the one boring 9-6 loss to the Titans in Week 3, the Jaguars racked up 87 rushing yards whereas the other three games they averaged 122. But the Jaguars running game was not the only thing to blame. The Jaguars attempted a fake punt return which failed because the Titans predicted the play. The only time the Jaguars almost had a chance to enter the red zone, their receivers or Blake Bortles botched the opportunity. And the last field goal, the Titans completed in the fourth quarter that put them ahead could be looked at as the fault of the Jaguars defense.
The Jaguars offense is ranked No. 14, and through Week 4, they have averaged 113 rushing yards per game. It can’t go without mentioning that by Week 4 last year, they were averaging 149 yards per game in which Fournette started all four. But Fournette’s average was only 69 yards per game through those four games. And they did lose their first two games against the Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers.
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The Chiefs defense shouldn’t put their guard down against the Jaguars running backs because they still won without Fournette in Week 2, and he was only present in less than half of the games in Week 1 and 4. Yeldon is the running back the Chiefs defense needs to keep an eye on. Fournette may be ruled out, but the Jags running game is not.