Leonard Fournette Fantasy Waiver Wire: Should I Pick Up the Free Agent RB This Week?

One of the clear signs that fantasy football is back for a new season is that we are once again talking about Leonard Fournette. It seems like every year, the veteran running back finds a way to make fantasy managers consider his upside, no matter how much he has struggled in recent seasons.

With just a handful of days until the 2024 NFL season, Adam Schefter reported that Fournette is heading to the Indianapolis Colts as a potential depth addition to the team. Let’s take a look at what Fournette’s role could be with the Colts and whether you should add him to your fantasy roster ahead of the season.

Indianapolis Colts RB Depth Chart

The Colts’ depth chart certainly lacks depth at the RB position, which helps make Fournette intriguing. Behind Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis has Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson, with Evan Hull on the practice squad.

Sermon has just 78 career carries, 35 of which came last year with the Colts. He’s run for a total of 346 yards and a touchdown while adding 39 yards on six receptions.

To say that Sermon is a completely unproven backup for Taylor would be fair. And in all likelihood, we would see the Colts look to add a veteran if Taylor went down this season.

Goodson played in six games last year as a rookie, rushing for 87 yards on 13 attempts and adding 34 yards on six receptions. Hull has even less experience, with just two touches for seven scrimmage yards.

The current state of the Colts’ depth chart gives Fournette a chance to be a direct backup for Taylor, a role that could have value in 2024.

Should Leonard Fournette Be Added on the Fantasy Waiver Wire in Week 1?

We’ve been here before less than 12 months ago when Fournette signed with the Buffalo Bills. All indications were that he would be backing up James Cook with a chance to be involved down the stretch for the Bills.

Fournette played in two games, carrying the ball 12 times for 40 yards and ultimately disappointing any fantasy managers who added him.

However, we don’t know what might have happened if Cook had missed time. The Bills used Latavius Murray and Ty Johnson as extra hands in the backfield, elevating Fournette twice from the practice squad to help them. Chances are that Fournette could have been the main option in the backfield if Cook had missed significant time, but we never got the chance to find out.

Drafting and stashing handcuffs is a legitimate fantasy strategy, but the Colts don’t have one we can trust at this stage. Fournette signing would cloud those waters more and potentially not even give us an answer. At no point in his career has he been a particularly efficient runner, and he’s relied on prowess catching the ball to offer fantasy value.

In his final season in Tampa Bay, Fournette carried 189 times for 668 yards and three touchdowns. He added 523 yards and three touchdowns on 73 receptions, almost trebling his value in PPR formats.

In deeper leagues, there’s a case to be made for stashing Fournette. It’s not pretty, but there’s a case for it.

In 12-team formats, you really only need to consider it if you want to handcuff Taylor. Fournette will likely have almost no independent value and will require Taylor to miss time if he is to have value in Indianapolis.