Seahawks: 3 free agent running backs Seattle should sign this offseason

Leonard Fournette

Leonard Fournette has had an interesting career so far. He has only played five seasons but seems like he has been in the league for 10 years. He is a stocky runner but has great hands when catching passes (he has a career catch rate of 78.4 percent when targeted). He played on an offense the last couple of years with some great receivers and a great quarterback but when needed, he could be the focal point of the offense.

Yet, Fournette has never reached the level that many thought he would when he entered the NFL in 2017. In three of his seasons, he has had an average rush of 3.9 yards or less. But three times Fournette has had 1,266 total yards or more in a season. He can be very productive.

And Fournette also has the ability to be a number-one back in the league and might be looking to sign elsewhere instead of re-signing with the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay will be losing Tom Brady to retirement this offseason and Rob Gronkowski might be right behind him. The Buccaneers should not be expected to be as good in 2022 as they were in 2020 and 2021. Maybe Fournette wants to go to a team with a better long-term option of being a big winner.

And the Seahawks could get back to being good by next year. Assuming Russell Wilson plays a full season healthy and assuming the new defensive coordinator is better than Ken Norton, Jr., the team could be in the postseason again in 2022. Those two items are safe assumptions. Adding Fournette makes what should be a good offense better and that might mean winning a playoff game or three next season.