Fantasy Alert: Travis Etienne Jr., Jags HC Expect Better 2024 Despite Reducing Load

Fantasy football managers will likely have mixed emotions about Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson's planned approach with running back Travis Etienne Jr.

"It's hard to put necessarily a rep count on it, but you do want to keep him as healthy as you can throughout the season," Pederson said when discussing limiting Etienne's workload, per a Thursday report from ESPN's Michael DiRocco. "We talked about this as a staff and myself, making sure Tank [Bigsby] gets opportunities to get out there and take some of the pounding off of Travis."

A smaller workload would be concerning for fantasy players, but Pederson also expects Etienne to be even better in those opportunities.

"Year three with us in the offense and just seeing his growth, I think there's more out there that he can get yard-wise," the coach said. "It'd definitely be an emphasis utilizing him more so in the run game and making sure that those yards that are there, that we're doing the right things, we're hitting the right holes, we're anticipating defenders and blocking schemes and all that kind of stuff."

DiRocco noted the Jaguars also went into the 2023 campaign hoping to reduce the workload for their star running back only for him to end up seeing more opportunities.

Etienne had 60 percent of the team's running back touches in 2022 and then expanded that total to 76 percent in 2023. He took advantage of those chances and is the NFL's only running back outside of Christian McCaffrey to tally more than 1,000 rushing yards and 1,400 scrimmage yards in each of the last two seasons.

The Clemson product finished last year with 267 carries for 1,008 yards and 11 touchdowns to go with 58 catches for 476 yards and a score as a receiver.

Jacksonville also has Bigsby and D'Ernest Johnson Jr., so Pederson has other options if he truly wants to reduce the starter's workload. And that could pay off for fantasy managers as well considering Etienne posted 5.1 yards per carry in 2022 and just 3.8 yards per carry last season.

Perhaps that wear and tear impacted his ability to explode into holes, so fewer carries could lead to more production in 2024.