Over the last two seasons, running back Travis Etienne has been one of the Jaguars’ most productive offensive players.
He had 1,441 yards from scrimmage with five total touchdowns on 255 touches in 2022. Then in 2023, he had 1,484 yards with 12 total touchdowns on 325 touches.
But Etienne’s yards per carry went down from 5.1 in 2022 to 3.8 last year.
On Monday, Jacksonville head coach Doug Pederson was asked if he’d like to reduce Etienne’s workload a bit in 2024 — in part as an effort to increase the running back’s productivity.
“Yeah, 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 in his press conference. “That’s why — we’ve talked about this too as a staff and myself — making sure Tank [Bigsby] gets opportunities to get out there and take some of the pounding off of Travis.
“Again, just taking another step, Year 3 with us in the offense and just seeing his growth. I think there’s more out there that he can get yard wise. It’ll 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. Then being able to take the wear and tear off him with Tank.”
Etienne started all 17 games for Jacksonville last season and has not missed a game over the last two years.
Bigsby took just 50 carries for 132 yards with two TDs, despite appearing in all 17 games last year as a rookie. D’Ernest Johnson also had 41 carries for 108 yards as a reserve running back with Jacksonville in 2023.