Leonard Fournette reportedly weighed upwards of 260 pounds when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers reported for minicamp at the beginning of June. The coaching staff was understandably upset, as it was reported that Leonard Fournette weighed more than 260 pounds. Fournette, according to his social media, has been working out like a madman since admitting there was a problem. That was the end of it, to the best of anyone’s knowledge.
The strange thing is that, for some reason, this story resurfaced in the middle of July, and it has gotten people talking yet again. The point is, even though Fournette recently signed a contract extension, and even though him showing up all swollen up for minicamp isn’t a good look, everything appeared to be in order. What exactly is the situation? We’ll probably remember it as a day with few noteworthy events.
To get down to business, Fournette is currently sporting a “low key thicc” appearance; however, contrary to popular belief, his weight is not quite as high as it was about a month and a half ago. This will no longer be an issue once Fournette has reached the required playing weight during training camp (they are in Florida, after all), as he will have lost the necessary weight.
To be fair, Fournette’s ability to seemingly evolve like a Pokemon as the season progresses has earned him the nicknames “Late Season Lenny,” “Playoff Lenny,” and “Lombardi Lenny.” Fournette’s nicknames refer to his ability to win championships. Lenny always seems to find a way to make things better, no matter how hopeless they appear at first.
As a result, it is possible to agree that the fact that this Leonard Fournette story exists at all is not “ideal.” However, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their fans should not place too much emphasis on this “problem,” as it is likely to be forgotten in the future. In any case, there are more pressing concerns to address.
Leonard Fournette appears to have some work to do before he is ready for a game. According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, a Buccaneers coach stated that the running back arrived at training camp weighing more than 250 pounds (Twitter link), a significant increase from his normal playing weight of around 230 pounds.
“Coaches were not happy, and that’s an understatement, when (Fournette) didn’t participate in the OTAs, but then he shows up at the mandatory minicamp weighing damn near 260 [pounds],” Stroud said on the Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast (hat tip to Luke Easterling of USA Today). “And that is not a good indicator for a player you just signed a three-year contract with,” the analyst said.
During the minicamp, Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times noticed that Fournette appeared out of shape because the RB struggled during the drills. Fournette admitted that he was overweight at the time, but he seemed confident that he would be able to return to his normal weight in time for training camp.
According to Fournette, “Obviously I Need to Get My Weight Down,” which has always been an issue during the summer. However, it will eventually veer in the opposite direction.
Bowles stated at the time, “I don’t think anybody is where they need to be right now.” “It’s training camp, where you have to be where you have to be, so right now there are people who are in shape and could afford to lose a few pounds, and others who are out of shape and extremely underweight.” As a result, we are currently working hard to resolve the problem. We’ll worry about it when we arrive at training camp.”
Fournette took over as starting running back for Ronald Jones in 2021 and made the most of his opportunity. The former fourth-round pick averaged 4.5 yards per rush and finished sixth among running backs in the NFL with 1,266 yards from scrimmage. After becoming eligible for free agency, he re-signed with Tampa Bay on a three-year, $21 million contract. If the 27-year-old is unable to fully participate when training camp begins, rookie Rachaad White, 2020 third-round pick Ke’Shawn Vaughn, and veterans Giovani Bernard and Kenjon Barner will be given additional practice opportunities.