It’s hard to imagine Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne’s rookie season being any worse than it was. He showed flashes during training camp but unfortunately suffered a Lisfranc injury during the Jaguars’ second preseason game, causing him to miss his entire first season in the NFL.
If there is one bright side that he can take away from his injury, he got to avoid the disastrous Urban Meyer experiment in Jacksonville.
“Just seeing the results you definitely are like, if there was any year to miss, I missed a great one,” Etienne said on Tuesday. “That is just the human element of it.”
The Jaguars ultimately finished the 2021 season 3-14 but Meyer was fired after a slew of scandals like allegedly kicking kicker Josh Lambo and missing the flight home with the team after its loss to Cincinnati.
However, Etienne missed battling with his teammates every Sunday.
“I feel like I was looking at it from a fan standpoint,” Etienne said. “Just being here every day. I felt I was a fan who was in the room with the players, basically. So I definitely had a different standpoint, perspective standpoint.”
After watching everything from behind the scenes, Etienne is ready to roll for his rookie season. He told the media on Tuesday that he’s 85 to 90% recovered from his Lisfranc injury.
Etienne isn’t doing everything during voluntary offseason workouts, but he’s close to being back to full strength.
The Jaguars will need Etienne to be ready for fall camp and the start of the season as James Robinson will likely still be recovering from his torn Achilles injury.
“Touchdown Jaguars!” will be published weekly, giving Jags Wire readers a new go-to podcast to hear the latest in news, rumors, and more. To stay up to date, subscribe via Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and feel free to rate and comment.