Jaguars’ Travis Etienne on offseason: ‘I didn’t have to worry about my foot,’ could just focus on football

Last offseason, Jacksonville Jaguars operating again Travis Etienne had a twin mandate. He had to get himself in a position to give a contribution to the Jaguars’ offense, certain, however he additionally had to rehab from the Lisfranc damage that had ended his rookie season prior to it even began. 

That’s now not the case for Etienne this yr. Heading into the 3rd season of his profession, Etienne has been in a position to listen only on the on-the-field facet of his preparation. 

“Last year was more about getting healthy and getting back,” Etienne mentioned, according to NFL.com. “This year, I didn’t have to worry about my foot. It’s great. So I’m able to work on football, all football.”

Etienne started closing season in a time proportion with James Robinson, however put his former backfield spouse on ice inside of a couple of weeks and ended up taking part in 60% of Jacksonville’s offensive snaps on the yr. He totaled 1,125 yards and 5 touchdowns on 220 carries, including 35 receptions for 316 further yards as a pass-catcher. All in all, it was once an overly cast debut season. 

The lone actual factor was once along with his palms, as Etienne fumbled the ball 5 instances and dropped 3 passes. 

“All the great running backs put the ball on the ground sometimes, but it’s on us to just keep getting better and better and be aware,” he mentioned. “And I feel like my teammates, they believe in me, so as long as I’ve got their belief, we’re good. … It allows me to go out there and play free, to go out there and make those big plays and continue to be special and not just live within my head. … It kind of goes to show that (coach Doug Pederson) believes in my skill set, and I’m going to go out there and be myself.”

Still, the Jags clearly didn’t really feel happy with Etienne as their lone high-level again, so that they added Auburn’s Tank Bigsby during the draft. And Etienne is just effective having to proportion the burden. 

“It keeps the wear and tear off of my body,” Etienne mentioned. “I don’t have to go and ding myself up each and every play. I got somebody else to take a couple licks off of me, and I love that.”