Last season, we saw former college teammates Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase and Tua Tagovailoa and Jaylen Waddle find immediate success in their first seasons together in the NFL. “Shower Narrative” is a phrase popularized by Adam Levitan that suggests college teammates, specifically QB-WR batteries, who had success in college are likely to be similarly successful at the NFL level.
The Bengals and Dolphins drafted all four of the players mentioned above, but the Raiders and Cardinals looked to the trade market this offseason in an attempt to find similar connections. Las Vegas acquired WR Davante Adams to pair with former Fresno State teammate Derek Carr, while Arizona traded for WR Marquise Brown to catch passes from former Oklahoma teammate Kyler Murray.
Let’s take a look at the best shower narratives around the NFL and evaluate what their fantasy impact might be this season.
Trevor Lawrence (QB – JAC) and Travis Etienne Jr. (RB – JAC)
Trevor Lawrence Projections
| PASS CMP | PASS ATT | PASS YDS | PASS TDS | PASS INTS | RUSH ATT | RUSH YDS | RUSH TDS | FUMBLES | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 366.2 | 579.1 | 3968.3 | 22.4 | 14 | 72.8 | 327 | 2.1 | 4.1 | 271.7 |
Joe Burrow’s massive second-year jump is encouraging for this year’s second-year QBs like Trevor Lawrence. The Jags quarterback finished with the same expected fantasy points per game average as Burrow in 2021 (17.3) but underwhelmed tremendously in a poor situation. His -72.3 fantasy points versus expectation were the most of any QB in 2021.
Lawrence posted a season-high 85.1 PFF passing grade in the season-finale, offering some hope that he can turn things around in 2022 with a new coaching staff in place.
There’s a strong chance that Jacksonville dials up the passing attempts with Doug Pederson calling the shots on offense. During his five-year tenure in Philadelphia, only once did the offense not finish top-10 in pass attempts.
– Andrew Erickson
This is STILL the Jaguars’ WR Room…
All I can say is GL Trevor Lawrence pic.twitter.com/whSZnNMdIw
— Derek Brown (@DBro_FFB) May 5, 2022
Travis Etienne Jr. Projections
| RUSH ATT | RUSH YDS | RUSH TDS | RECS | REC YDS | REC TDS | FUMBLES | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 175.3 | 751.7 | 5 | 50.1 | 403.5 | 2 | 1.9 | 153.7 |
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.
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 attempting to come back from a torn Achilles injury suffered on December 26th, Etienne figures to be the featured back during this spring/summer.
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.
– Andrew Erickson
2022 Fantasy Football Staff Consensus Rankings
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