After being selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, Travis Etienne missed all of that season due to a Lisfranc injury he sustained in the preseason.

But the former Clemson star returned with a flourish in what was essentially his rookie year in 2022, bursting onto the NFL scene with 1,125 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 220 carries across 17 games (12 starts).

Jaguars coaches are excited about what this season has in store for Etienne as he looks to build off of last year, and this week, head coach Doug Pederson discussed how Etienne can take the next step in his already impressive game.

“It’s one of the things that when we looked at his game this offseason back in February and March before the players came back, one of the things that we noticed was just him attacking the hole downhill,” Pederson said in a press conference. “Shoulders squared, attack the line of scrimmage, finding that crease where a lot of times you’ll see him try to bounce. We were able to show him and really emphasize shoulders-square, anticipating where the hole could be, and just trusting that.

“He’s done an outstanding job, he’s bought into that. He sees it, we’ve been able to show it to him, he’s working on that in training camp right now.”

Pederson suggested that a lofty rushing total like “1,600-1,700” yards is possible for Etienne to achieve this year.

“You just don’t hand a guy a ball and let him go run. Sometimes that happens but there’s that skill and ability to anticipate a hole,” Pederson said. “We always talk about speed through the hole, not to the hole, type thing. He’s really embraced that this training camp. That, to me, is the next step for him and that 11-12-13, now the yards start creeping up and maybe he’s pushing 1,600-1,700 yards as a rusher.”

–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images 

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