Monday Night Football game analyst and Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman is a fan of Jacksonville Jaguars running back and former Clemson star Travis Etienne.
Aikman – the legendary Dallas Cowboys quarterback, six-time Pro Bowler and three-time Super Bowl champion – had praise for Etienne during ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast of the Jaguars’ 31-28 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
“Everybody in this league tends to get labeled, and then that kind of sticks with you,” Aikman said. “And Etienne is a fast guy. A lot of people talk about that more than they do some of the other things that I think he does exceptionally well.
“And part of that is running between the tackles and finishing runs. I mean, this guy is a powerful back, and he is really fun to watch.”
Etienne rushed 12 times for 49 yards and hauled in three of four targets for 9 yards in the Jaguars’ victory over the Chiefs on Monday night. A week earlier, he rushed for 124 yards on 19 carries, including a 48-yard touchdown scamper, in Jacksonville’s 26-21 win over the San Francisco 49ers.
The 5-foot-10, 215-pounder is off to an outstanding start this season for a Jaguars team that currently sits at 4-1 and is tied atop the AFC South with the Indianapolis Colts.
Etienne currently ranks fourth in the NFL in rushing yards (443) and also ranks fourth in the league in rushing yards per game (88.6). He is tied for fourth in 20-plus yard rushing plays (three) and has a couple of rushing touchdowns, to go with nine catches for 41 yards and one receiving score.
Etienne is now in the final year of his rookie contract after being selected by the Jaguars in the first round (25th overall) of the 2021 NFL Draft. He entered this season having rushed for 2,691 yards and 18 touchdowns on 637 carries, while catching 132 passes for 1,046 yards and another score, over the first three seasons of his pro career.
Etienne played in 15 games last season, when he had 150 carries for 558 yards and two touchdowns. Prior to the 2024 campaign, he rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first two NFL seasons in 2022 and 2023, after missing his entire 2021 rookie campaign due to a season-ending Lisfranc injury he suffered in that preseason.
–Photo courtesy of Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images