Running back Leonard Furnett, who spent Monday away with the New England Patriots, is re-signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a three-year, $21 million contract, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
The deal includes a guaranteed $11 million, sources told ESPN’s Jenna Lane, and could reach $24 million with stimulus.
Furnette ranked sixth among all NFL runners with 1,266 yards from scrimmage, averaging 4.5 yards per carry, when the Bucks placed him on reserve with a hamstring injury after Week 15. The Bucks lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round.
After signing his second one-year contract with the Bucks last offseason, Furnett, 27, rushed for 812 yards and 10 touchdowns (eight in the regular season). He also caught 69 passes for 454 yards.
2 related
His best game came in Week 12, when Furnett, in addition to a memorable halftime speech when the Bucks fell behind, rushed for 100 yards on 17 carries and had seven receptions for 31 yards against the Colts. The last of his four touchdowns in that 38-31 win was a 28-yard run with 29 seconds left.
Furnett earned the nickname “Playoff Lenny” – and later “Lombardi Lenny” – when he led the Bucks with 448 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns in the Super Bowl LV postseason run, where he ran for 135 yards when Tampa Bay defeated the Kansas City Chiefs.
Having backed Ronald Jones for much of the 2020 season — an experience the coach and coaching staff say humbled him and helped prolong his career — Furnett seized the opportunity when Jones was sidelined for the final few weeks of the season with injuries. and being on the standby/COVID-19 list.
Furnett was fourth overall in 2017 by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who refused to exercise their fifth-year option and released him after the 2019 season. After a difficult 2018 season in which he was benched at a pivotal moment, penalized and criticized, Furnett responded with his best statistical season with the Jaguars in 2019, hitting a career-best 1,152 yards and catching 76 passes for 522 yards with three . total number of landings.
He has 3,810 yards, 31 touchdowns and 239 receptions for 1,696 yards and four TD catches in 63 regular season games.