Leonard Fournette Won't Be Punished for Arrest, Says Jaguars HC Doug Marrone

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said Tuesday the organization isn't going to fine or suspend running back Leonard Fournette for his arrest last week related to an unpaid speeding ticket.

TMZ Sports noted Marrone explained he went through a similar experience while he was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech in the late 1990s. Fournette has since paid the necessary fines in Florida, and his Jags coach said it's just important he learns from the mistake and doesn't make it again.

The arresting officer wrote in a police report the Jacksonville running back said, "I left it at the stadium. I'm a Jaguar player," when asked to provide his driver's license, per John Reid of the Florida Times-Union. The officer noted it was the "same exact answer" he'd given when pulled over in July 2018.

Fournette was released from custody after paying $1,508 in fines on a $204 speeding ticket issued in November, per Reid.

The 24-year-old New Orleans native's status with the Jaguars was uncertain coming into the offseason.

In December, Mark Long of the Associated Press reported the franchise voided the remaining guaranteed money in the running back's four-year, $27.2 million contract after he received a one-game suspension from the NFL for a fight during a game against the Buffalo Bills.

The update came amid backlash from Jacksonville executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin, who called Fournette and fellow running back T.J. Yeldon "disrespectful" and "selfish" for their actions on the bench during a season-ending loss to the Houston Texans.

"Their behavior was unbecoming of a professional football player," Coughlin said in a statement.

Fournette and Coughlin met in mid-January to clear the air, and Marrone spoke about his own meeting with the team's starting rusher around the same time.

"I had a meeting with Leonard—I wanna say last week," Marrone told reporters Jan. 16. "We had a good meeting. I'm not going to speak for Leonard, but when he left that meeting … I think he's in a really good place. That's encouraging and I'm excited about that."

So any thought of the Jaguars releasing Fournette seems to have subsided, and he remains penciled in as the team's No. 1 running back heading toward the 2019 season.

It's unclear whether he could face any NFL discipline for the arrest under the league's personal conduct policy, though.