Travis Etienne Jr. Season Preview and Predictions

While Coen is mostly known for what he did for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' passing game and quarterback Baker Mayfield as their offensive coordinator, he was also the architect of one of the most effective rushing attacks in football last season. There are high hopes that his system can open things up for Etienne Jr. to reclaim his status as one of the league's premier young running backs.

As a dual-threat out of the backfield, ETN could realistically play both Bucky Irving and Rachaad White's roles in Jacksonville. However, if his regression from last season proves to be the start of a trend and not an outlier down year, he could find himself overtaken by Tank Bigsby or rookie Bhayshul Tuten for touches or even on the depth chart.

Travis Etienne Jr. will bounce back, but in a committee

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a deep and talented running back room, featuring Travis Etienne Jr., Tank Bigsby, Bhayshul Tuten, and LeQuint Allen Jr. There's a reason that General Manager James Gladstone and the rest of the team's staff elected to keep all four ball-carriers on the 53-man roster.

Head Coach Liam Coen has earned the reputation of an offensive mastermind. While that could open things up for ETN to have a dominant season, it could also mean that the Jaguars will use a committee approach, deploying different backs in various situations to take advantage of each player's individual skill set. Coen is also sure to exploit the expectations from opposing defenses of what each of his running backs has to offer out of the backfield. That could lead to an interesting statistical year for Etienne Jr.

Stat predictions

• 130+ carries

• 580+ rushing yards

• 4+ rushing touchdowns

• 40+ catches

• 400+ receiving yards

• 5+ receiving touchdowns

Between his likely usage in the passing game and the strengths of the running backs behind him on the depth chart, I do expect Etienne Jr. to get a career-low in carries this season. However, I do expect him to see much better efficiency than his 3.7 yards per attempt from 2024.

Etienne Jr. could feast as a receiver on checkdowns and short-yardage situations. He has the talent necessary to rack up yards after the catch for the Jaguars, with opposing defenses keying in downfield on Brian Thomas Jr. and the rest of Jacksonville's other pass-catchers. He should also sneak out of the backfield for quite a few receiving touchdowns.