The 2024 National Football League season proved to be a challenging campaign for Travis Etienne, transforming the Jacksonville Jaguars running back into one of fantasy football’s most significant disappointments. However, looking closely at the macro-level context reveals a season mired in systemic dysfunction rather than a sudden decline in individual talent. The Jaguars’ offensive collapse under the stagnant leadership of head coach Doug Pederson and offensive coordinator Press Taylor was both striking and rare. Observers noted that it is unusual to witness an NFL franchise struggle with
basic operational execution to the extent Jacksonville did throughout 2024.
Schematically, the upcoming 2025 iteration of the Jacksonville offense under incoming coordinator Liam Coen is expected to bear little resemblance to the rigid system deployed by Taylor. Coen’s previous tenure running the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense heavily featured the dynamic, explosive burst of rookie runner Bucky Irving. While fellow Jaguars back Tank Bigsby offers valuable power-running capabilities, Etienne profiles much more closely to the stylistic mold of Irving. Beyond stylistic similarities, Etienne possesses elite top-end speed that could allow him to break even larger runs than Irving in comparable offensive situations.
Yet, a clear hurdle complicates this optimistic projection: the Jacksonville offensive line remains patchy at best. For Etienne to thrive under the new offensive scheme, the organization must successfully reinforce its trenches. Furthermore, Etienne will need to maintain robust health after playing through a lingering hamstring tweak for an unspecified duration during the 2024 season. Additional competition could also materialize in the backfield if Coen becomes enamored with rookie fourth-round draft pick Bhayshul Tuten. Boasting a blazing 4.32-second time in the 40-yard dash, Tuten stands as one of the few running backs in the entire league with verified speed that clearly eclipses Etienne’s.
Despite the turbulent optics of his recent output, Etienne’s historical resume highlights an athlete gifted with rare, explosive traits. While his 2023 rushing average dipped to an improbable 3.8 yards per carry as the Jacksonville offense imploded, his exceptional 2022 campaign—where he churned out 5.1 yards per carry across 220 rushing attempts—alongside a legendary four-year career at Clemson, where he averaged 7.2 yards per carry and amassed 70 touchdowns over 686 carries, paint a different picture. Those foundational metrics cement his status as one of the most explosive running backs in recent football memory.
Following the struggles of 2023, Jacksonville’s coaching staff and front office firmly committed to the evaluation that the sharp decline in rushing efficiency stemmed from porous offensive line play rather than schematic failures. Consequently, upgrading the blocking unit became the primary objective heading into 2024. Unfortunately, the front office largely elected to bank on internal development and improved health rather than aggressive external acquisitions. The signing of veteran free-agent center Mitch Morse injected a competent starter into the fold, yet he represents a stabilizing presence rather than a transformative difference-maker. The remaining four positions along the line stayed in the hands of returning starters: Cam Robinson at left tackle, Ezra Cleveland at left guard, Brandon Scherff at right guard, and Anton Harrison at right tackle. Consequently, even though Etienne remains one of the premier running backs in the league and is locked into a substantial workload, he continues to play football on a significantly higher difficulty level than many of his peers in the upper echelon of the position.
Etienne’s professional journey has certainly experienced considerable volatility, yet his delayed NFL debut showcased immense promise, underlined by a big-play capability that proved impossible to ignore. Throughout his collegiate career at Clemson, Etienne consistently manufactured explosive plays at a frequency matched by only a handful of running backs in college football history, making his translation to a dangerous professional big-play threat an anticipated expectation. His 2022 campaign validated that projection, confirming he belonged among the most threatening long-range runners in the NFL.
At the same time, the broader dimensions of his game revealed developmental areas. Etienne struggled with ball security, fumbling five times, and battled occasional concentration drops, most notably on a wide-open, would-be touchdown pass in Week 1. Additionally, he occasionally lacked consistent yardage generation between explosive bursts. While peeling off 20-yard and 40-yard runs at a league-leading pace highlights elite upside, smoothing out the consistency in between those splash plays would drastically elevate both his individual production and the efficiency of the Jacksonville offense. Above all else, the definitive takeaway from his standout 2022 season was that he had successfully moved past the devastating Lisfranc fracture that abruptly ended his rookie year during an August preseason game. Given that few injuries carry a more concerning outlook for the long-term viability of a running back’s career, Etienne’s successful rehabilitation stands as a major developmental milestone.
Selected with the 25th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Etienne was originally slated to reunite with his college quarterback and teammate, Trevor Lawrence, anchoring the foundation of a dynamic modern offense. The first signal that Jacksonville’s plans would veer dramatically off course arrived during the second preseason game of his rookie year, when he sustained the aforementioned season-ending Lisfranc injury. As a draft prospect, Etienne was widely viewed as the complete package, blending high-end speed with exceptional elusiveness, elite vision, and polished receiving skills that regularly drew favorable comparisons to Alvin Kamara.
Although the historical league-wide track record for athletes returning from complex Lisfranc injuries had historically been spotty, encouraging reports in March of his rehab timeline suggested he was well ahead of schedule for a complete recovery. At the time, veteran running back James Robinson remained on the roster as a potential complicating factor for touches, working his way back from a late-December Achilles tear. The arrival of Doug Pederson as head coach was anticipated to inject much-needed stability into the franchise, a reasonable expectation given that Pederson-coached or coordinated offenses finished inside the top ten in rushing yards in five of his eight seasons in the NFL. Paired with ongoing development from Lawrence, the structural elements were in place for Etienne to shoulder a massive offensive load.
Reflecting on his profile coming out of Clemson, there was remarkably little not to like about Etienne prior to his unfortunate rookie-year exhibition injury. Possessing sprinter-type speed in the open field, the explosive runner routinely made opposing collegiate defenders look helpless as he accelerated past, around, and through defensive fronts. His exceptional patience and vision allowed him to wait patiently for blocking lanes to materialize, while his balance and agility in traffic consistently manufactured positive yardage out of plays that appeared bottled up behind the line of scrimmage. Beyond his rushing prowess, Etienne evolved into a reliable receiving threat out of the backfield and displayed a rare combination of technical ability and genuine enthusiasm as a pass protector—an attribute seldom found in young running backs entering the professional ranks.
That multifaceted skill set justified his first-round selection by a Jaguars front office that already possessed a capable lead ball-carrier in James Robinson, who had handled a three-down workload for large stretches of the prior season. While Robinson was projected to manage a similar role upon his return, Etienne’s long-term outlook centered on his eventual return to full health, with the early timing of his training camp injury providing a runway toward a normal offseason preparation cycle as he looked ahead to cementing his place in the professional ranks.
