Deja Vu: Who is This Year’s Leonard Fournette in Fantasy Football?

When it comes to fantasy football, using the past to predict the future is something I love to do, especially when it comes to taking an analytical approach. While nothing is a perfect science when it comes to predicting sports, we know that if we can find someone in our drafts to repeat the success of certain players from last year such as Jonathan Taylor, Cooper Kupp or Ja’Marr Chase, or avoid the disappointments from others, we will definitely have an advantage on our opponents as we saw the advantages that those results created last year. 

This “Deja Vu” series will be us doing our best to look at trends, metrics, and statistics from the last season that might indicate which players can repeat some of the outcomes that we saw from different players last year. 

In previous articles, we’ve talked about who will be this year’s Kupp, this year’s Taylor and this year’s Chase. This time, let’s talk about this year’s Leonard Fournette. 

When looking for the next Fournette, we are looking for a player who is due for a big bounceback year, like we saw from Fournette last season when he finished as top-10 RB after being cut by the Jaguars a few years ago. 

The Candidates

These are some of the names that fit the criteria, but ultimately just missed the cut. 

• Saquon Barkley, New York Giants — Should have that same dominant role that he had a few years ago, as well as a much-improved offensive line and improved offensive scheme with new coaching staff led by Brian Daboll.
• Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys — Tony Pollard being there still puts a damper on Zeke, but they did lose several WRs this offseason and Zeke should remain a focal point in a good offense. 
• Allen Robinson, Los Angeles Rams — Talk of the town in camps this year, major QB upgrade and we saw the upside possible as the WR2 in this LA offense with Odell Beckham late last year. 

This Year’s Leonard Fournette: JuJu Smith-Schuster

This was a very tough decision because of how much I like the other names listed, especially Barkley and Robinson. However, this year’s Leonard Fournette is… JuJu Smith-Schuster. JuJu finds his stock at an all-time low, despite being in the best situation of his career. He will join Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce in Kansas City as the clear second option in this passing offense. Sure, the Chiefs added Marquez Valdes-Scantling and drafted Skyy Moore, but I think that says more about their lack of confidence in Mecole Hardman and the need to fill the void of Demarcus Robinson. JuJu should be second in the pecking order on this team, and with the backfield seeming to be up in the air, we know the Chiefs will have no issue relying heavily on their superstar QB and this pass game.