The Jaguars kept things simple on offense during the 36-5 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. They asked Trevor Lawrence to spread the ball and let other players make plays, while the running back tandem of Bhayshul Tuten and Travis Etienne took it upon themselves to wear the Bolts down. The formula worked.
The Jags didn't punt a single time and totaled 197 rushing yards on 47 attempts. Although Etienne reached the end zone twice, Tuten led the way with 74 yards on 15 carries.
This was Tuten's best game of the season, and the first time he had more than 10 carries in a game. Just recently, head coach Liam Coen explained the reason behind the rookie's increased workload.
Jaguars RB Bhayshul Tuten had made the most of his chances in practice
Liam Coen met with the local media one day after the win over the Chargers and praised Tuten, pointing out that he and fellow rookie LeQuint Allen have been practicing better, and that's been reflected in their workload.
"Yeah, we were just both those guys ran and now, I mean, we ran it 47 times. So you're just naturally not trying to put too much on one guy, one way or the other," Coen responded when asked what led to Tuten seeing an uptick in playing time against the Chargers (2:21 mark). "So I thought the Tut ran hard. He ran downhill. Couple third-down runs, got us vertical. You know, he did a really nice job. And then, obviously, so did TJ and LeQuint.
Coen continued, "But two guys have been practicing better and better, and as much as we can continue to get him involved, the better our offense is."
Thus far this season, Allen has logged one more offensive snap than Tuten (156 to 155). However, it's mostly come as a pass protector and a pass-catcher out of the backfield. Either way, Tuten did enough against the Chargers to earn more carries moving forward.
Bhayshul Tuten could turn out to be RB1 for the Jaguars in 2026
After the draft, there were reports that the Jaguars weren't sold on either Tank Bigsby or Travis Etienne. On the other hand, they were high on Bhayshul Tuten, and there was chatter that he could even be the starter in the season opener.
Tuten ultimately opened the season behind Bigsby and Etienne, and it wasn't until recently that he's seen an uptick in carries, and only after Bigsby was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. In the past three games, the Paulsboro, New Jersey native has toted the rock 27 times for 108 yards. As Liam Coen, that was mostly due to the fact that he hadn't done enough to warrant more playing time. This isn't particularly surprising, though.
Players' readiness is always variable coming out of the draft, and it's possible that Bhayshul Tuten just needed a bit of time to hit his stride. And how that's gotten acclimated to the pros, he can rush with the aggressiveness that made him a staple of the Virginia Tech offense in college.