It took a while but Uncle Lenny finally has a home for the 2023 NFL season. The Buffalo Bills are reportedly bringing in veteran RB Leonard Fournette for the rest of the season, adding some depth to backfield. Fournette joins RBs James Cook and Latavius Murray on the depth chart. Those two had been splitting work with RB Damien Harris on injured reserve. The move for Fournette could mean Harris may not be back this season. It also means the Bills clearly aren’t happy with the production from Cook and Murray. We’re going to go over the fantasy football impact of the Fournette signing.
Fantasy football impact of Leonard Fournette to Bills
James Cook/Latavius Murray
This isn’t a great sign for Cook/Murray managers. We’ll start with Cook, who is the RB16 in PPR formats going into Week 9. He leads Bills’ RBs in snaps with 302 on the season. Cook reached a season-high snap share of 67% this past week vs. the Bucs on TNF. He has 486 rushing yards for 4.8 yards per carry this season. Cook hasn’t been as active in the passing game with just 22 targets for 18 catches and 192 yards on the season. That is likely the area where the Bills needed some help. Insert Lenny.
Murray might have his role diminish significantly. He was more being used as a change-of-pace back to Cook. Murray never really had much upside as a receiver. After getting at least 30 snaps in back-to-back games, Murray only had 23 this past week. It may not happen immediately, but we should expect Fournette to take over Murray’s snaps and be the primary third-down back. So if you have Murray in fantasy football, try to snag Fournette, assess the situation and go from there. Chances are Murray will be expendable.
Josh Allen/Passing Game
Adding Fournette should be a positive for Allen. He gets another reliable receiver, one who can be a safety valve out of the backfield. It’s also just another threat at RB, one that can keep defenses more honest as opposed to Murray, who is pretty one-dimensional. Fournette is also a big body and could be used in pass protection.
As for the passing game overall, it shouldn’t impact how we approach WRs Stefon Diggs, Gabriel Davis, and TE Dalton Kincaid. Those three will carry fantasy football value the rest of the season and be starts every week. It could diminish what little value depth receivers Khalil Shakir and Deonte Harty had.
Should you add Fournette off waivers?
Absolutely. He should be your No. 1 priority on the waiver wire this week in all formats. Even if he isn’t going to start, Fournette was one of the best PPR backs in fantasy football last season. He finished as the RB12 in PPR in 2022 with the Bucs. A lot of that was because of his reception volume; he had 73 catches, which ranked third among RBs. Is he going to see that type of volume the rest of the season with Buffalo? Probably not. That doesn’t mean he won’t be a good FLEX play in PPR if he gets around 20-30 snaps, which is what Murray was getting since the injury to Harris. That could translate to around 3-4 catches and we could see Fournette get some carries if Cook looks off certain weeks. Fournette can also keep Cook fresh for the playoffs.