Buccaneers Officially Release RB Leonard Fournette & TE Cameron Brate

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced Friday that they’ve officially released RB Leonard Fournette and TE Cameron Brate.

Buccaneers Release Cameron Brate and Leonard Fournette

Release: https://t.co/UE9TCegAeZ

— Buccaneers Communications (@BuccaneersComms) March 17, 2023

Fournette, 28, is a former first-round pick of the Jaguars back in 2017. The Jaguars declined Fournette’s fifth-year option and later waived him at the start of the 2020 season.

Fournette was entering the final year of his four-year, $27.15 million contract and set to make a base salary of $4.16 million for the 2020 season at the time of his release. The Buccaneers signed him to a one-year contract worth up to $3.5 million soon after and brought him back on another one-year deal worth up to $4 million for the 2021 season. 

The Buccaneers signed Fournette to a three-year, $21 million last year. 

In 2022, Fournette appeared in 16 games for the Buccaneers and rushed for 668 yards on 189 carries (3.5 YPC) to go along with 73 receptions for 523 yards and six total touchdowns.

Brate, 31, signed on with the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent out of Harvard back in 2014. He was on and off of their active roster during the first two years in the NFL and had a brief stint with the Saints before returning to the Buccaneers in 2015.

Tampa Bay signed Brate to a six-year, $41 million contract in 2018 that included $18 million guaranteed. He later agreed to rework the deal in March of 2022, agreeing to a two-year, $8 million deal with the Buccaneers.

In 2022, Brate appeared in 11 games for the Buccaneers and caught 20 passes for 174 yards receiving and no touchdowns.