Travis Etienne ‘Embracing’ His Next Step As A Rusher

Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne led the team in scrimmage yards last season, but Doug Pederson predicts further improvement.

Travis Etienne rushed for 1,125 yards, five touchdowns and 316 yards receiving on 35 catches during a productive 2022.

He was tied for fourth in the NFL with five 100-plus rushing yard games. His 5.1 yards per carry made him the third Jaguars player ever to reach the 5+ yard mark.

Coach Pederson believes Travis Etienne can push his rushing yard numbers towards the 1,700 mark.

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“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. 

“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-squared, 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.”

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“That’s the next step for him, I mean it was his rookie year,” Pederson said. 

“You don’t just hand a guy a ball and let him go run, sometimes that happens but there’s that skill and ability to anticipate a hole. We always talk about speed through the hole, not to the hole type of 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.”