So much for the “Leonard Fournette to the Steelers” talk.

The former Jacksonville Jaguars running back signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week, ending any discussion about him coming to Pittsburgh.

But now, from a fantasy football perspective, the speculation is rampant as to what that may mean for draft boards as many leagues have waited until Labor Day weekend to make their picks this season.

Jeff Erickson from RotoWire joins us for our weekly fantasy sports podcast. And while Fournette no doubt went to a better team while staying in Florida, his draft stock may have gone down as a result when it comes to fantasy value.

After all, he was going to be one of the few weapons available in Jacksonville if he had stayed. And in Tampa, the Bucs are caked with scoring threats.

“Fournette was a guy that was going in the third or fourth round in a lot of drafts,” Erickson said. “Now maybe he is a sixth or seventh rounder.”

As Erickson says, there are plenty of “secondary ramifications” to this signing. For instance, is former Pitt product LeSean McCoy going to get cut now in Tampa? Ronald Jones may slide down the ladder as a result. And who becomes the lead back in Jacksonville?

Ryquell Armstead, Chris Thompson, Devine Ozigbo and James Robinson are all options. But Erickson says don’t get sucked in by any single member of that pack just because you are assuming a heavier workload.

“I kind of discount them all. I can take them as a fifth or sixth running back as a dart throw to keep on my bench. Aside from that, I wouldn’t invest much draft capital in them,” Erickson says.

What could have been for the Steelers? Erickson and I have a conversation on that front. After all, there was some chatter that the Steelers may take a run at Fournette and perhaps cut James Conner if need be. Or try to keep them both and perhaps cut Jaylen Samuels.

Meanwhile, Erickson is warming to the prospect of Benny Snell being a late-round roll of the dice. He’ll tell you why.

Fournette wasn’t the only running back to make noise this week. Joe Mixon signed a contract extension with the Cincinnati Bengals. And Alvin Kamara has been caught in a swirl of headlines surrounding his health status, contract situation, and trade rumors.

Kamara is a first-round pick prospect on most boards. Erickson tries to surf us through how much his stock could drop.

And we mix in a little baseball talk now that the trade deadline has come and gone. Specifically, we look at the Marlins’ acquisition of former Pirate Starling Marte.

Starling Marte with a go-ahead home run in his first game with the @Marlins! pic.twitter.com/zZ2eQHNrCc

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) September 2, 2020

Let’s just say he got off to a pretty good start.

Listen: Tim Benz and Jeff Erickson from RotoWire discuss Leonard Fournette going to Buccaneers and other running backs in your fantasy draft

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