Leonard Fournette Agrees to Reported 1-Year Contract with Tom Brady's Buccaneers

Any running back playing in an offense with Tom Brady, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Rob Gronkowski figures to have plenty of open space with defenses so worried about the pass, and Leonard Fournette will reportedly have that chance.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Fournette agreed to a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network added Fournette's contract will pay him a base salary of $2 million and can max out at $3.5 million:

Fournette confirmed the move on Twitter:

Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported on Wednesday afternoon that Tampa Bay was one of the teams "making a push to sign" the former Jacksonville Jaguars running back.

Fournette was a free agent after the Jaguars released him, and head coach Doug Marrone said the team was unable to trade him for even a sixth-round pick, per Schefter.

Tampa Bay already made waves this offseason when it signed six-time Pro Bowler LeSean McCoy as a veteran running back, and Ronald Jones was solid last year with 724 rushing yards.

Still, the team likely didn't expect someone like Fournette to be available on the free-agent market this close to the season. After all, the Jaguars appeared to make him their franchise running back when they selected him with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft.

He looked the part when he ran for 1,040 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie, although the LSU product fell off some in 2018 with 439 rushing yards in just eight games.

To Fournette's credit, he put up impressive individual numbers in 2019 and rushed for 1,152 yards and three scores. He also tallied a career-high 76 catches for 522 yards and appeared in all but one of Jacksonville's games.

While Fournette's career average of 4.0 yards per carry doesn't exactly jump off the page, he is just 25 years old and proved he can work in the passing game as a physical running back who attacks defense between the tackles.

He also won't be expected to anchor the offense in Tampa Bay like he did in Jacksonville and could work as a short-yardage back and part of a rotation with McCoy and Jones.

That makes this signing not particularly surprising, especially with a short window with Brady starting the season at 43 years old.