One of the worst-kept secrets in college football is the 2016 season will likley be the final year in Baton Rouge for LSU running back Leonard Fournette. Not only is he excpected to be among the Heisman frontrunners this fall, but he is also expected to be one of the top pro prospects in the 2017 NFL Draft.
With his stock as high as it is heading into the football season (and the summer leading up to it), Fournette has reportedly taken out a pair of insurance policies valued at a combined $20 million.
Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com reports the two policies were purchased by Fournette’s parents. The policies cover the talented running back many believe would have been a high draft pick this year for $10 million in total disability should he suffer a career-ending injury this upcoming season and another $10 million for any circumstances that would cause his NFL Draft stock to drop. Taking out insurance policies like these is not against NCAA rules.
Top college players taking out insurance policies is nothing new, and in fact it is becoming even more necessary for those with a path to the NFL Draft. Sometimes those insurance policies come in handy. As noted by John Taylor of College Football Talk, Ifo Ekpre-Olomu of the Cleveland Browns purchased a policy with the help of the University of Oregon’s Student Assistant Fund that allowed him to collect $3 million after suffering a ruptured ACL and dislocated patella. Ekpre-Olomu was once projected to be a first-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, he fell to the seventh round.
Of course, some folks will use Fournette to fuel their arguments that sitting out of the entire football season is the ultimate insurance policy, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk suggests. We have seen these arguments before, perhaps most notably with Jadeveon Clowney in the last few years, but there still appears to be plenty of benefit to actually playing football in contact situations. Yes, running backs can be hurt the most by injuries, and statistically are due to have a short lifespan in the NFL anyway, but that trail has yet to be paved by any college football player. The actual impact sitting out a year would actually have has yet to be proven (or refuted) as a result.
It may happen one day, and it may just be a running back that does it. It will not be Fournette. He’s covered. Twice.
