5 intriguing Jaguars position battles to watch during 2022 offseason

Jaguars most intriguing offseason battle No. 2 – RB2/3.

While it’s still a tad too early to tell whether the Jaguars’ brass made the right decision when they selected running back Travis Etienne with the 25th overall pick in last year’s draft, they will need him to make big plays for them in 2022. The former Clemson Tiger routinely logged plays of 20 yards or more at the collegiate level and Jacksonville could use a few this upcoming season.

On the other hand, the Jaguars’ coaching can’t overwork Etienne and must spread the load around. Ideally, James Robinson would get a significant amount of playing time but he’s currently nursing the torn Achilles he suffered late in the 2022 season, so Jacksonville will need to lean on either rookie Snoop Conner or Ryquell Armstead.

A fifth-round pick in 2019, Armstead toted the rock just 35 times for 108 yards in his rookie campaign. He missed the 2020 season after getting COVID-19 and spent time with several teams before returning to Jacksonville last year. The Temple product saw game action in the last two weeks of the season and went on to rack up a solid 15 carries for 80 yards.

Instead of adding a veteran in free agency, the Jags opted to use a fifth-round pick on Conner. Back at Ole Miss, he amassed 304 carries for 1,580 yards with 26 touchdowns as a part of the Rebels’ rotation at running back. In Jacksonville, he won’t compete with Armstead for a feature role but rather the backup job behind Etienne while Robinson recovers.