Doug Marrone talks Leonard Fournette’s public support for Cam Newton

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Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette was asked what he thought about Cam Newton signing in Jacksonville. His answer was pretty plainly positive, saying he’d like to see it happen to create competition at that position.

But head coach Doug Marrone felt he needed to address Fournette’s public support of Newton during a Friday appearance on NBCSN.

“You know, with players, you’re always going to have friends [who say] like, ‘Hey, this guy should come, or that guy should come,’ and you try to talk to the players about talking about the team and doing what is best and keeping a single message, but then a lot of times you’re going to have to be able to communicate in that locker room, I mean that is the big thing with me,” Marrone told Mike Tirico. “I mean, we all talk about men are all men and everything, when you are in that locker room, you’ve got to say, ‘Hey listen, I said this because I really think this is best for the team,’ and if you can’t say this is what’s best for the team, then you’re going to have issues. . . . It’s not like a coach can get in between two players and fix something. You know, these things have to be fixed among each other at times and the coach can go in there and try to guide it through.”

(Thanks to Pro Football Talk for the transcription.)

It’s interesting that Marrone felt the need to say something about it. He’s either overprotective of his locker room and any disruption to chemistry and cohesion or he knows there’s a rift that either currently exists or could easily be created. Or maybe it’s a combination of both.

Either way, I wouldn’t expect the Jaguars (or any team) to sign Newton before the NFL Draft this weekend.