Leonard Fournette's sideline spat with fans during Thursday night's loss to the Tennessee Titans in Nashville came after a fan yelled a racial slur at Fournette, Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said Monday.
A video released Monday morning by TMZ showed Fournette yelling at a fan, and Marrone said he asked Fournette about the exchange later Monday. Fournette told him a fan used a racial slur, Marrone said.
Asked if there were witnesses to support Fournette's claim, Marrone replied, "I trust the player."
Fournette declined to address the matter with reporters, citing his agent's advice, but fellow running back T.J. Yeldon agreed with his teammate's account and added that there wasn't just one slur.
"Did I hear it? Yeah," Yeldon said. "All the running backs and people on the offensive side were hearing the exchange. They were heckling at us all game, at him and all of us all game.
"All night. All night. All day they was calling us racial slurs, all game."
In the first part of the video, Fournette is standing close to the front row of the seats and can be heard saying, "Listen, you're too old for that. I will beat your a--."
Two people then come over and pull him away from the group. Later in a different video clip, Fournette can be heard yelling from the team's bench, while Yeldon looks on.
"Facts, you're too old for that," Fournette yells. "You're too old for that. Chill out. I'm not worried about you. You want to come down here? I'll whoop your a--."
The Titans won the game 30-9 as Fournette finished with 36 yards on 14 carries. It was the running back's first game back after serving a one-game suspension for leaving the bench and fighting with Buffalo Bills defensive end Shaq Lawson in Week 12 in Buffalo.
--Field Level Media