Former Clemson star Travis Etienne appears to be moving toward a return to NFL action.
The New Orleans Saints running back returned to practice as a limited participant on Wednesday, marking his first step toward returning from injured reserve.
Etienne suffered a hamstring injury in Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders and was placed on injured reserve in early October, missing the last five games.
Etienne has officially been designated to return from IR, giving the Saints a 21-day window to activate him to the active roster.
Head coach Kellen Moore indicated he has a chance to return as soon as Sunday’s Week 10 matchup against the Carolina Panthers, though the team is taking a wait-and-see approach before making a final decision.
“We’ll see,” Moore said Wednesday. “There’s some potential for it. … We’ll just let the week kind of play itself out and we’ll see what it looks like.”
Etienne, 27, joined the Saints this past offseason on a lucrative four-year, $52 million deal after spending the first five years of his NFL career with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who took him with the 25th overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft.
In three games this season, he has rushed for 128 yards on 30 carries while catching 11 passes for 51 yards.
Last season, Etienne surpassed 1,000 yards rushing for the third time in his first four active seasons after missing his entire 2021 rookie campaign due to a season-ending Lisfranc injury he suffered in that preseason. He ran for 1,107 yards and seven touchdowns on 260 carries in 2025, while also catching 36 passes for 292 yards and six scores.
Saints quarterback Tyler Shough is happy to have Etienne back at practice.
“It was great,” Shough said. “I think just his comfortability with the offense, you know, getting those reps back again is going to be key. … But I think he’s been adamant with the playbook up to this point that he’s been working his butt off. So it’s going to be good just adding that element. I know when we were rolling early on in the season, training camp, it’s hard to stop him as well. So we’ve got to get him those touches and get him back going, and I’m excited to have him back.”