VIDEO: Leonard Fournette Discussing Getting Fined by Jaguars Proves Tom Coughlin's Reign Was Toxic
By Ian Anderson
Tom Coughlin's reign as executive vice president of football operations in Jacksonville is finally over, and this interview with Jaguars RB Leonard Fournette (along with, you know, the NFLPA's recent warnings) proves just how bad it was under Coughlin.
Leonard @_fournette talks about when him & @T_Yeldon got fined 99k by Tom Coughlin for sitting down during the 2018 season finale
— Ben Murphy (@BenMurphyTV) December 19, 2019
"TJ called me he was like man what the hell I got fined 100 thousand. I'm like s*** I don't know what to tell you....
...Then the email came to me" pic.twitter.com/hajsnuEUsC
According to Fournette, both he and former teammate T.J. Yeldon were both fined $99,000 for sitting on the bench while inactive during Week 17 of the 2018 season.
The fact that Coughlin decided that sitting down while not being active was worthy of being fined almost $100,000 is absolutely ludicrous. Jaguars players must feel free after Coughlin was fired yesterday.
I think Jalen Ramsey and Allen Robinson would still be #Jaguars if not for Tom Coughlin's tenure. Also think Ngakoue wouldn't be with the team in 2020 if Coughlin remained. For a team that had been bad at finding young talent for so long, he ran away off quite a bit.
— John Shipley (@_John_Shipley) December 19, 2019
It seems the way that Coughlin ran the Jaguars chased away plenty of talent from the team, including Pro-Bowl wide receiver Allen Robinson and All-Pro corner Jalen Ramsey.
While he was an excellent head coach for the New York Giants, his second tenure with the Jacksonville Jaguars resulted in an incredible 2017 season, and a bizarrely toxic culture, and set the Jaguars back for the foreseeable future.