Fournette, Bell go from losing to Super Bowl | Sporting activities

“Can’t hold out til I perform in that Super Bowl,” Fournette wrote on Feb. 2, 2014 — punctuating it with a grin emoji.

Fournette is smiling loads now.

“This tweet from my senior year in high school almost nothing but Gods system……. Playoff Lenny,” Fournette wrote final Friday in a quotation tweet.

A good deal has took place considering that that working day — an excellent 3-yr job at LSU, getting the No. 4 over-all choose by Jacksonville in the 2017 NFL draft, two 1,000-garden speeding seasons, and at some point a falling out with the Jaguars, who lower him following teaching camp in August.

“It’s nuts how you manifest on matters and converse it into existence,” Fournette claimed. “I’m just blessed with the opportunity I have now to perform in this big sport with a large amount of other excellent players on this staff and the other staff. 

As effectively he should, in particular looking at where he’s at: with the NFC champion Buccaneers, who’ll square off Sunday from the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs.

And think about wherever he could’ve been: with the 1-15 Jaguars and as much from the Super Bowl as you can get. 

Buccaneers teammate Steve McLendon is familiar with the sensation, possessing been traded by the New York Jets in the center of a 2-14 season. Identical for Chiefs running again Le’Veon Bell, who was produced by the then -5 Jets.

“It’s been an attention-grabbing time, to say the minimum for me — one of my far more intriguing seasons,” Bell claimed. “When I very first begun the time, I was with New York and I was variety of fighting an uphill struggle with every little thing that was heading on above there. It did not do the job out for whichever cause. I ended up coming around right here and the initially working day here, I loved it suitable away.”

And what’s not to like? It’s not frequently a participant goes from losers to winners — and it’s possible winning it all — in the exact same year.

The hope in Jacksonville just a number of yrs ago was that Fournette would lead the Jaguars to this minute.

Instead, he fell out of favor throughout a stint that bundled an arrest for driving with a suspended license and speeding, and a suspension for preventing in a video game. There have been also wellness issues and uncertainties as to no matter if he could be the reliable playmaker he was predicted to be.

The Jaguars declined the fifth-yr selection on Fournette’s contract, a indication he was no for a longer time a part of their long run. He turned a part of their earlier when they waived him just after unsuccessfully seeking to trade him.

“It was a horrible experience,” Fournette claimed. “I took a 7 days off and had to get my mind proper and also test to to comprehend why this was heading on.”

He ended up signing a a person-12 months deal with the Buccaneers, who did not have to have Fournette to be the star. Instead, he has complemented Ronald Jones in the backfield. 

“Once he acknowledged that, he’s been just a trooper, guy,” Buccaneers running backs coach Todd McNair said. “He’s been a soldier.”

Fournette rushed for just 367 yards and six touchdowns for the duration of the common season, but has 211 yards and two TDs in a few postseason game titles.

“I just told him: ‘This staff is exclusive and you’re a massive aspect of it. Embrace your role. You never ever know when your purpose is likely to adjust,’” mentor Bruce Arians claimed. “I’m genuinely, actually happy of Leonard and the way he’s handled it.”

Fournette acknowledged he’s not applied to sitting down on the sideline for chunks at a time, and wants to sense as although he’s taking part in supporting the Bucs earn. And that is specifically what he’s carrying out the last month.

“Everything wound up doing work out in my favor in the end,” Fournette claimed.

Bell is also a complementary piece for the Chiefs, backing up rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire and splitting carries with Darrel Williams. He had a occupation-low 328 yards hurrying and two TDs in 11 online games, nine with Kansas Metropolis.

“I actually like him — I like him as a child, I like him as a participant,” mentor Andy Reid explained. “He delivers that veteran working experience. He’s been the very best in the company at what he’s accomplished. He’s dealt with this job nicely.”

Following taking part in just two online games for the Jets and currently being produced when they couldn’t deal him, Bell experienced a difficult selection. Miami wanted him, but so did Kansas City. 

“I produced the choice to appear right here, to play with a large amount of terrific players and mentor Andy Reid,” he reported. “It probably was harder than my no cost-agency choice, for genuine.” 

At the time a single of the most dynamic playmakers in the NFL with Pittsburgh, Bell sat out a time in a contract dispute in advance of signing a four-year, $52.5 million offer with the Jets in 2019. That stint did not even last two total seasons, a disappointing conclude to what was supposed to be a substantial comeback.

But that could appear Sunday. 

“It means everything in the environment,” Bell explained. “Ever given that I have been playing this video game given that the age of 4½, this has been the purpose why you participate in it. I have watched every Tremendous Bowl considering that I was very little child, as lengthy as I keep in mind, usually envisioning that I would be in the sport. 

“So now that I’m 8 a long time into the league now and I eventually got below, you know, it was like a desire arrive true. And clearly I just want to finish the position.”