Career Contextualization
Travis Etienne Jr. was a standout college football running back for the Clemson Tigers from 2017 to 2020 and was selected by the Jaguars in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft -25th overall. However, his rookie season was cut short by a preseason Lisfranc injury. Some NFL personnel reported that Etienne could have come back towards the end of the year had the Jaguars been in playoff contention instead of being the league’s laughing stock.
Current Situation
Etienne is expected to be fully cleared by training camp, giving him a leg up on the RB1 role as the Jacksonville Jaguars install a new offense under new head coach Doug Pederson. With James Robinson (RB – JAC) attempting to come back from a torn Achilles injury suffered on December 26th, Etienne figures to be the featured back during this spring/summer.
General Prediction for 2022 and Rest of Career
Do not forget what this guy did at Clemson with Trevor Lawrence (QB – JAC) as his quarterback. During his final season as a Clemson Tiger, he led the country in receiving yards and ranked second in receptions among running backs. Etienne also racked up the most rushing attempts of 20-plus yards (40) from 2018 to 2019 while only carrying the ball 20-plus times once since 2018.
He possesses the exact running back profile that should be highly-coveted in dynasty; he needs to be a highly sought-after asset at just 23 years old. I expect his fantasy stock to only increase once he finally hits the field.
Etienne is the FantasyPros in-house expert consensus RB16 in the 2022 dynasty rankings. I (Andrew Erickson) recently selected Etienne in a start-up industry dynasty league as the RB17 off the board.
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