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The Jacksonville Jaguars are adding some backfield depth. The team is signing running back Benny Cunningham, per Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle. Cunningham, 28, spent the past two seasons with the Chicago Bears.
The Middle Tennessee State alum originally signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2013. He spent the first four years of his career there before signing with Chicago. He didn’t get much run on offense the past couple of seasons, but was a key contributor on special teams for the Bears.
In two seasons with the Bears, he carried the ball only 20 times. He earned a lot more action with the Rams, rushing for at least 246 yards in each of his first two seasons in the league. No terms of the deal were immediately available, although it’s safe to assume it’s a short-term deal with relatively little guaranteed money.
The Jaguars’ situation at running back is a bit complicated. Leonard Fournette was supposed to be the featured back for the foreseeable future, but he appeared to have a falling out with the team last year.
After Fournette was suspended one game for getting into a fight, the team used the incident to void the remaining guarantees in his contract. They appeared to have patched things up, but it’s a tenuous situation that could change at any time.
T.J. Yeldon is an unrestricted free agent, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be re-signed, so Cunningham will be a needed depth piece. Even if Fournette is still in the team’s long-term plans, he has been frequently injured, so Cunningham could get some real action in Jacksonville.