Bruce Arians says Leonard Fournette will ‘have a solid role’ against the Saints

Almost as soon as the word came out about the Bucs and Leonard Fournette, many began to wonder how he would be used during the 2020 season.

Bruce Arians shined some light on that Tuesday —well, at least in the context of Fournette’s Week 1 role— when he spoke with reporters after practice.

“He’ll have a solid role in this plan,” Arians said. “He’s a very bright guy – [he] picked it up pretty quick today. Obviously, he can’t do everything, but he’ll have a solid role in the plan for the week.”

The word “solid” can mean many different things, but after Arians’ comments, we now know that Fournette will be involved in Sunday’s gameplan to some degree.

However, when asked about what kind of challenges Fournette poises for opposing defenses, Arians made things a little more ambiguous in regard to how defenses should gameplan for the fourth-year back.

“Until his role really, really expands, I wouldn’t think you’d have to gameplan for him that much, other than just our running game,” he said.

In other words: Who knows?

Hopefully the Bucs won’t be blatantly obvious with their gameplan when Fournette is in the game, but just like every other aspect with this team (and the rest of the NFL, for that matter), we won’t know for sure until Sunday.