Whenever a team drafts a franchise quarterback, that quarterback’s play essentially becomes a referendum on the administration that picked him. Such will almost inevitably be the case for Jacksonville Jaguars’ first overall pick Trevor Lawrence, who is the most important rookie from the 2021 class.
But he’s not the only one who has a lot to prove at the NFL level. Many analysts questioned Jacksonville’s use of the 25th pick in the 2021 draft, with which the team selected Clemson running back Travis Etienne. Considering the diminishing value of the position and the play of undrafted rookie James Robinson in 2020, the pick was a bit head-scratching, to say the least.
But in Etienne, the Jags staff sees a dynamic player who can make an impact both on the ground and through the air, as the most successful modern backs (e.g. Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara) can.
Etienne’s preseason debut was a bit lackluster. He saw just one carry as the backup to Robinson (who himself only saw three carries) and it went for just two yards.
That doesn’t exactly leave us much to talk about this week, but NFL Network’s Lance Zierlein still felt comfortable naming Etienne the most pivotal rookie for the Jaguars outside of Lawrence.
I’m not going to make the obvious selection of Trevor Lawrence for this spot so we can take a deeper look at the Jaguars’ draft class. Cornerback Tyson Campbell has all the traits and has generated some buzz this summer, but let’s not overthink it. Etienne is a slasher with very good power and he’s developed into quite a pass-catcher. His Clemson pedigree and ability to help on all three downs should give Lawrence an even better chance to succeed as a rookie.
Robinson likely still projects as the No. 1 back, but he was asked to contribute an unsustainable amount of carries, and having Etienne as a change of pace back should ease his workload tremendously.
We’ll likely see an expanded role for Etienne in the coming preseason games, as it remains largely unclear in what capacity the team intends to use him. But it seems like a safe bet that Etienne will see a lot of action as the team’s third-down back in 2021.