Fantasy Alert: Jaguars Want Travis Etienne to Get 1,600-1,700 Rushing Yards

Fantasy football GMs interested in racking up rushing yards might want to look to Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne.

Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said Thursday he wants Etienne to take the next step with the hope that he eventually is "pushing 1,600 to 1,700 yards as a rusher."

The team has been working with Etienne with keeping his shoulders square and finding openings at the line of scrimmage, Pederson said.

"He's done an outstanding job, he's bought into that. ... He's working on that in training camp right now, and that's the next step for him," Pederson said.

Etienne ran the ball for 1,125 yards during the 2022 campaign (he did not play in 2021 with a Lisfranc injury.) He claimed the Jags' RB1 spot in Week 6 of last season and looks set to resume that position in 2023.

Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox ranked Etienne in the third tier of fantasy RB rankings at No. 11 in Wednesday's early preseason rankings report.

Last year, Etienne's rushing yards ranked ninth in the NFL. Only Josh Jacobs, who led the NFL with 1,653, made it into the "1,600-1,700" range Pederson envisions for Etienne.

It was a stellar first campaign for Etienne, who added another 316 yards on 35 catches and averaged over five yards per carry to finish the season ranked 17th among NFL running backs in PPR points.

Those stats were stacked in part because Etienne was forced to carry the team's RB workload following James Robinson's trade to the New York Jets. Etienne had 74 percent of the team's running back carries following Robinson's trade, according to ESPN.

The Jags may be leaning less on Etienne in 2023, however.

The team has added free agent D'Ernest Johnson and selected Auburn's Tank Bigsby in the third round of the 2023 draft this offseason. Johnson and Bigsby will be competing for the RB2 spot behind Etienne, and that could end up reducing Etienne's workload.

Etienne said in May he felt like the increased depth "keeps the wear and tear off my body," per ESPN's Michael DiRocco, but those considering taking him in a fantasy draft should consider the likelihood that his carries are likely to decrease from what fans saw in the latter half of the 2022 season.