How Leonard Fournette is rationalizing his Cam Newton recruitment

It doesn’t seem like Leonard Fournette is fully embracing Minshew Mania.

The Jacksonville Jaguars running back this week publicly recruited free agent quarterback and former NFL MVP Cam Newton, albeit a pitch he claims wasn’t a slap at incumbent Jags QB Gardner Minshew.

“I feel like Cam, Cam went to the Super Bowl. He’s a great guy, I’ve been knowing Cam for a minute now,” Fournette said of the former Carolina Panthers star in an appearance Thursday on ESPN’s “First Take.”

“Like I told some people that talked to me, it’s no disrespect to Minshew. I’m just trying to get into the best position as a team [so] we can win. That’s all that was about. Just friendly competition, because [it] brings out the best in people.”

Fournette had deleted an Instagram post from last month – soon after Newton had been released by the Panthers — in which he wrote “@CameronNewton What we doing teaming up or what?”

Minshew, a 2019 sixth-round pick out of Washington State, threw for 3,271 yards and 21 touchdowns in 14 games last season (12 starts), while free-agent acquisition Nick Foles was sidelined with a broken left clavicle suffered in the season opener.

Foles, who won Super Bowl LII with the Philadelphia Eagles as the fill-in for injured starter Carson Wentz, was traded by Jacksonville to the Chicago Bears in March for a fourth-round pick in next week’s draft.