Jaguars RB Travis Etienne someone you find ways to get the ball to

Second-year running back Travis Etienne made his first career start against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 6. Although the Jacksonville Jaguars lost 34-27, the former Clemson Tiger made the most of his chance.

Etienne toted the rock 10 times for 86 yards and hauled in two receptions for 22 yards. In the Jags’ first possession of the game, he broke off a 48-yard run, one he thinks should have ended in a touchdown. But that wasn’t the only big play the former Clemson Tiger had. In the following drive, Trevor Lawrence found him on a 22-yard pass.

Head coach Doug Pederson met with the local media Monday and talked about Etienne’s impact and how he’s been as good as expected.

“I don’t think it’s better than what we hoped“, Doug Pederson said in relation to Etienne’s performance this season. “I think it’s exactly what we had expected with him. What he’s kind of shown us this season. You can see it, he’s got the speed to get around the edge. He’s tough, physical, powerful between the tackles and somebody that you try to continue to find ways to get the ball to”.

A first-round pick in last year’s draft, Etienne has seen his workload progressively increase this season. After getting a combined 13 carries in the first two weeks, he’s had 41 rushes and eight receptions in the last four. He’s averaging 5.6 yards per carry and has logged 301 rushing yards in six contests. Here’s the run ETN says he should have taken to the house.

Travis Etienne is showing the Jaguars got it right when they drafted him

Etienne missed his rookie campaign after suffering a Lisfranc injury in the preseason, and it was uncertain whether he was going to be ready for the 2022 season opener. But he was back in the fold in training camp and was one of the Jags’ best players in summer practice.

In fact, it seemed like Etienne was going to start for the Jags with fellow running back James Robinson rehabbing from a season-ending injury of his own. However, Robinson was ready for Week 1, so Etienne took on a change-of-pace kind of role.

But the Lousiana native must’ve done enough in practice to convince the coaching staff to give him more playing time as the season progressed and as Pederson said, he has performed as expected.

Back when the Jags drafted Etienne, this writer thought he was an unnecessary luxury given that James Robinson was coming off a historic rookie campaign and the team had other needs. However, he’s steadily become a playmaker offense and you can never have enough of those, right?

The Jaguars have a dynamic running back duo and while they will need to balance their workload, there’s no doubt that they need to get Etienne involved as much as possible moving forward.