Fantasy Football Player Notes

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.

Everything came together for Christian Kirk in 2021 because he was finally used from the slot. Unsurprisingly, Kirk established career highs across the board in targets (112), receptions (83), and receiving yards (1,035) while filling the void left by an injured DeAndre Hopkins.

Kirk commanded a 21% target share without Hopkins in the lineup and averaged 13.8 fantasy PPR points per game - a top-10 per-game average. In addition, he finished with the second most receiving yards from the slot among all wide receivers.

Kirk should stay kicked iside with the Jaguars after they got little production from that position in 2021. Marvin Jones and Laviska Shenault ranked in the bottom 10 with 1.30 yards per route run from the slot. Kirk ranked 13th with 1.80 yards per route run from the slot. He is shaping up to be the new Amari Rodgers for Trevor Lawrence, operating from the inside.

At worst, Kirk takes shape as a strong WR3 asset who can elevate to WR2 status quickly with an up-and-coming quarterback.

It would be silly to write him off after a bleak rookie season, particularly when it's so easy to pin all the blame on Urban Meyer. There were some eye-opening throws at times, but Lawrence completed less than 60% of his passes, threw 12 TDs and 17 INTs, and averaged only 6.0 yards per attempt. T-Law's pedigree suggests that good things are coming, but it's a big leap of faith after such a dismal rookie season.

Evan Engram's PFF receiving grade has declined over the last four seasons, bottoming out in 2021 at 54.9 - 40th among 44 qualifying tight ends.
And he hasn't disappointed due to a lack of opportunities, either. He finished top-15 in route participation (68%) and had almost zero competition for targets with injuries to Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney and Sterling Shepard.
Alas, Engram failed to command any worthwhile target share with his abysmal 14% target rate per route run. So consider me slightly hesitant to buy into Engram breaking out in 2022 because his new head coach has a history of featuring tight ends. Sure, it works in Engram's favor, but last I checked Dan Arnold is still on the team. And Doug Pederson has also been known to heavily feature two tight ends in his offense, which doesn't always translate to fantasy success.

Laviska Shenault looks like the odd-man-out entering Year 3 with Christian Kirk, Marvin Jones and Zay Jones ahead of him in the target pecking order. Viska-stans might need a trade for him to revive his plummeting fantasy value.

Because his team-leading 21% target rate per route run on 99 targets does suggest that maybe he's not as bad as the market perceives him.

Especially considering the wide receivers going into Year 3 drafted in Round 2 that have eclipsed 170 targets since 2018 is a solid group to be associated with. Those names include JuJu Smith-Schuster, D.K. Metcalf, Tee Higgins, Chase Claypool, Courtland Sutton, A.J. Brown, Michael Pittman Jr. and Christian Kirk.

Jaguars traded for him in late September, and Arnold rewarded them with steady production until a knee injury landed him on IR. The Jaguars' signing of Evan Engram casts doubt on Arnold's 2022 usage.

Zay Jones played better down the stretch than second-year receiver Bryan Edwards, which earned him a three-year $30 million deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Jones averaged a 25% target share, 10.7 half-point fantasy points per game (27th) and 12.8 expected half-point fantasy points per game (18th) in the team's final five games including playoffs.
He also led the team in total air yards (1,136).
The former Raider is bound to be overlooked in fantasy despite a strong 2021 finish, so consider me a buyer in the very late rounds and in dynasty. Jones will be a starter on the outside and inherit the wide receiver role previously occupied by Laquon Treadwell.
The former first-round pick finished the final six weeks of the fantasy season 10th in receiving yards with 381 - 64 per game.

Jones, like Treadwell, also finished the last five weeks top-10 in PFF receiving grade versus man coverage - further bolstering Jones' case as a future playmaker on the boundary.