Jags RB Travis Etienne Struggles in Fantasy
It’s been a rough three weeks for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Travis Etienne, who can’t seem to perform as well as he usually does on the real and fantasy fields. This past Sunday saw Etienne deliver his worst performance yet, finishing with -0.1 points after being predicted for at least 10.2, which probably wouldn’t have been attainable anyway, given his similarly low performances in Weeks 4 and 5.
Etienne is usually the Jaguars’ starting RB, but between him nursing nagging shoulder injuries, potentially losing his starting job to backup Tank Bigsb,y and the aforementioned poor on-field outings, the 25-year-old out of Clemson is starting to look like a lost cause. Fantasy managers (like myself) could see him benched for next week with a waiver pickup in place of him.
So far this season, Etienne has racked up 230 rushing yards on 56 carries, compared to 451 yards at this time last season. Additionally, he has only 2 scores, coming in Weeks 1 and 2, compared to 2023, when he had 5, namely in Weeks 1, 5, and 6, the latter two seeing Etienne punch it in twice in the game. In that same 2023 span, he carried the ball 113 times, compared to this season, where he’s only had the aforementioned 56- another significant drop in production. Call it poor coaching or just a lack of confidence, but additionally physically battling two separate injuries at the same time doesn’t help either.
You heard that right- Etienne had a nagging shoulder injury carrying over from Week 4 even before he left the first half of Sunday’s game against the Bears. Clearly, all the rough divisional play must’ve been catching up to him because it just might be the reason why he’s not at his optimal performance. It’s just one of many reasons why Tank Bigsby has now effectively taken over Etienne’s usual job, and with the news of the hamstring bug, TB could be due for a bigger role, something he gave fans a taste of against Chicago. He didn’t do much better than Etienne, but still better nonetheless. That’s the most important thing right there.
The final nail for the usual star RB had come as recently as today when it was announced he’s week to week with a hamstring injury. An injury designation such as that puts a player out of commission for at least 2-3 weeks, leaving most fantasy managers scrambling to find replacements. It’s been done already and then worse for Texans WR Nico Collins, and now Etienne grabs that unfortunate distinction. And being out isn’t the only thing the man himself has to worry about.
With the league trade deadline just three weeks away, ET could possibly be playing the last couple of games in a Jaguars uniform. That might seem a little bit of a stretch, but it has been floating around the NFL lexicon the last few days. Jacksonville could make some deal that would send Etienne up and out of Duval, and that’d definitely be a disappointing end to what looked like a promising career there. Of course, it may not be the end of the road for him yet, seeing as before this year, he had consecutive 1000+ rushing yard seasons.
It’s possible that this year is just a fluke and Etienne might be back to his old self sooner or later. He’s definitely running out of time, however, which is why he absolutely has to step it up in these coming weeks, injured or healthy. But for now, there are fantasy managers who have more reliable options for the next couple of weeks.
See also: Trevor Lawrence is the Only Bright Spot on a Darkening Jags Team