December 11, 2025 • 9 mins
Travis Etienne Jr.'s Career-Best Season with Jaguars
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Our mission today is
pretty laser focused. We're dissecting the spectacular twenty twenty five
season of Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Junior. You
sent us a ton of sources, interviews, articles, coaching notes,
and they all seem to point to the same thing.
This isn't just you know, a good year, No, not real.
(00:22):
We need to understand the fundamental transformation that has made
this the best season of his entire five year career.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And the stakes, I mean, the stakes are what makes
this deep dive so compelling. It's not just a statistical review.
He's set to be a free agent after the season.
The Jags are nine to four, leading their division, and
a lot of that is on his back. Every single
play is basically a primetime audition for.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
A massive contract, whether it's in Jacksonville or you know,
somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Exactly, he's playing for the biggest deal of his life.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So, yeah, we're not just looking at the highlight reel. Yeah,
we need to get past the stats and really understand
the personal, the strategic shifts that made this incredible bounce
back happen.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Especially because you know it comes right after a really
disappointing twenty twenty four. It's that classic comeback story.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
With a huge financial clock ticking down.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Right, it forces you to ask, what happened right now,
in the most important year of his career to unlock
this this level of dominance.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Okay, let's undact this. We have to start with a
hard evidence. What exactly defines this best season. Let's look
at the numbers through Week fourteen.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
The raw numbers, they immediately tell the story of his value.
He's at nine hundred and seventeen rushing yards, which are good.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
That's tenth in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
It's very good, But that number alone doesn't really capture
the whole picture. The context of his career is everything here.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
It is because when you look at his pace, he's
on track to blow pass twelve hundred rushing yards. That's
elite territory.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
And that's before you even get to his receiving production.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Which is where his real value comes in. Is versatility.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Absolutely, you combine the rushing and receiving, his total scrimmage
yards are at one thy ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Ok So that's sixteenth overall among all players, not just
running backs.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Right, But the key takeaway here, and what we need
to emphasize for you is the consistency, the reliability.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
That's the word. He's averaging eighty four point five scrimmage
yards every single game and for a Jaguars offense that's been.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
A little up and down, he's been the one constant.
He's their most dependable weapon in twenty twenty five period,
and that's the foundation of any contract negotiation.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
But here's the thing. He already had one thousand yard
seasons in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. He did,
so why is twenty twenty five his best year?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It's about the efficiency, the timing, and the contrast. The
impact of this year is just magnified by how far
he fell on twenty twenty four. His production just fell
off a cliff.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, that contrast is essential. In twenty twenty four, what
was it, only five hundred and fifty eight.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Rushing yard and two touchdowns. He was pretty much overstarted
by Tank Bigsby.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
And we can't forget this is the guy who lost
his entire rookie season in twenty twenty one to that
horrible list fronc.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Injury, which is a brutal injury for a running back.
It affects the midfoot, you know, everything for explosion and cutting.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
So for him to come back and hit a thousand
yards right away was amazing. But maybe that twenty twenty
four dip, Yeah, maybe it was the accumulated wear and
tear finally catching up.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I think that's a huge insight. The sources suggest it
wasn't just bad luck. It was probably a mix of
that wear and tear and maybe a scheme that just
didn't play to his strengths.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So going from that major dip in twenty four to
being one of the most essential backs in the league
in twenty five, that's not just attitude. That's a change
in the whole architecture.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
It has to be an emotional and mental reset. And
this is where the sources, particularly his own interviews, give
us so much insight.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
He was incredibly open about it.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
He basically summed it all up by saying he was
finding my love for the game again. I mean, that's
a powerful thing for a pro athlete to say.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It suggests twenty twenty four wasn't just statistically bad. It
was it was draining, like the joy was gone exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
And he pointed to the locker room, the camaraderie, saying
it's the best part of this team. That tells you
the new environment under head coach Liam Cohne is about
more than just x's and o's.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It's about creating a better psychological space for the players.
But let's talk performance. He said he's getting opportunities now and.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
He explicitly said he wasn't allowed to be his best
self in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
That's a pretty direct, if subtle shot at the old
coaching staff, isn't that?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Oh? Absolutely, But it's also a massive vote of confidence
in the new guys. He gives them credit for trusting him,
for giving him.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
The ball, and then he immediately puts the accountability back
on himself, saying he's protecting the rock. He's saying, you
gave me the chance, and I'm holding up my end
of the bargain.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Which leads us right to Coach Cohne and his staff.
This whole transformation, it started back in the spring. They
were focused on integrating Etienne into Cohen's specific offense, and.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
For you at home, this is where it gets a
little technical, but it's so important. Cohen's system is heavy
on zone blocking, especially outside zone.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Exactly and that scheme is tailor made for a back
like Etienne. It demands vision, lateral speed, that burst, cut
up field skills.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
That the previous, maybe more power focused system just wasn't
using to its full potential. They fit the offense to the.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Player they did, and Cohen said at Tien came in
with the right mindset from the beginning. He was always
in the building, even on off days, just absorbing everything.
That's real commitment, and the coaches tapped into that. The
running backs coach, Chad Morton, he played a huge role here.
Morton said he had hard time conversations with him, and.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
A hard time conversation that's more than just critiquing film.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Oh yeah, it implies a much deeper level of engagement.
Morton was trying to figure out where at ten was
emotionally with all the pressure of the contract year.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So the coach realized the problem wasn't the talent, it
was the mental weight of it.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
All, precisely, the disappointment, the competition, the money on the line.
By addressing that emotional block, they freed him up to
just play fast again.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
That's some really smart coaching and a taded off.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Morton's final take on him found him smart and really reliable.
So you see how it all came together. A recommitted player,
perfect scheme, and a coach who invested in him as a.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Person, and all that set the stage for this dramatic
showdown in the offseason, because you know, even with all
these positive signs, the team was still pretty uncertain about him.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
They absolutely were. You have to remember that twenty twenty
four dip was serious. Bigsby had outplayed him seven hundred
and sixty six yards and seven touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
The power had definitely shifted.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It had, and the front office took that wait and
see approached very seriously. They didn't just talk up Bigsby.
They drafted two more running backs.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Bacial Tutan in the fourth and Laquin Allen Junior in
the seventh. That's not just adding depth, No.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
That's hedging your bets. That's taking out an insurance policy
on a guy you're not sure about anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
But then things changed, and they changed really fast.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Surprisingly fast. By early June during OTA's the whole feeling
around him had brightened. As one source put.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
It, and why what was the shift?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
He just showed up. He was in great shape. He
picked up the new offense instantly, and you could just
see it. He was moving better, more freely than he
had all of last year.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
He'd won that mental battle.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
It looked like it. They still had him share first
team reps in training camp, you know, kept up the
appearance of competition. But the real turning point that didn't
happen until week one, September seventh.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The season opener. That was the game that settled everything.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
That was the game. He was the clear number one
from the first snap, and he just went off sixteen
carries one hundred and forty three yards.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And that huge seventy one yarder that basically broke the
game open.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yep, and he added three catches. Meanwhile, Tank Bigsby barely
played five carries twelve yards.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
The game just laid it all out there, and the
front office reaction was, I mean, it was.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Swift, brutally swift. The very next day, Bigsby was traded
to Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
For a couple of late round picks in twenty twenty six,
twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
That's how quickly Wait and See turned into Travis Etienne
is our guy. The trade was the final chapter of
the comeback story.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And since that moment, his workload has been insane. The
sources show he accounts for sixty nine percent of the
team's total running back touches, sixty.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Nine percent rushes and receptions. That number is just staggering.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
It shows you how much this nine to four team
now depends on him. He's the engine.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So if we connect this to the bigger picture, this
whole deep dive really shows that peak performances. It's a convergence, right,
It's talent, it's opportunity, and maybe most importantly, emotional readiness.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Coach Cohen said, he's playing at a high level now,
and that high level is directly tied to the trust
in the scheme.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It's the perfect storm of personal motivation meeting organizational faith,
all happening in a contract year.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
So what does this all mean for you? You should now
have a really clear picture of the path at Tian
took to reach his career peak in a most critical
year possible.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Yeah, he went from being overshadowed and struggling to being
the absolute anchor for a playoff team, and.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
He did it by winning the mental game and finding
the perfect system. It's an incredible story of like professional redemption.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
It is, and the Jaguars, you know, they picked up
his fifth year options, so they believed in him to
some extent. But he's still heading to free agency. His
agent isn't just showing teams the yardage anymore. He's showing
them that usage rate.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Which leaves us with a final provocative thought for you
to think about. Given that he's still headed for free agency.
How much does that specific number, accounting for sixty nine
percent of his team's running back touches drive up the
price tag for his next contract.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Does a usage rate that high, which proves he can
handle that massive workload put him in the absolute top
tier of running back pay, whether.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
It's in Jacksonville or somewhere else. That's sixty nine percent
isn't just a stat anymore. It's the starting point for
his next negotiation.
Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Our mission today is
pretty laser focused. We're dissecting the spectacular twenty twenty five
season of Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Junior. You
sent us a ton of sources, interviews, articles, coaching notes,
and they all seem to point to the same thing.
This isn't just you know, a good year, No, not real.
(00:22):
We need to understand the fundamental transformation that has made
this the best season of his entire five year career.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And the stakes, I mean, the stakes are what makes
this deep dive so compelling. It's not just a statistical review.
He's set to be a free agent after the season.
The Jags are nine to four, leading their division, and
a lot of that is on his back. Every single
play is basically a primetime audition for.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
A massive contract, whether it's in Jacksonville or you know,
somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Exactly, he's playing for the biggest deal of his life.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So, yeah, we're not just looking at the highlight reel. Yeah,
we need to get past the stats and really understand
the personal, the strategic shifts that made this incredible bounce
back happen.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Especially because you know it comes right after a really
disappointing twenty twenty four. It's that classic comeback story.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
With a huge financial clock ticking down.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Right, it forces you to ask, what happened right now,
in the most important year of his career to unlock
this this level of dominance.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Okay, let's undact this. We have to start with a
hard evidence. What exactly defines this best season. Let's look
at the numbers through Week fourteen.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
The raw numbers, they immediately tell the story of his value.
He's at nine hundred and seventeen rushing yards, which are good.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
That's tenth in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
It's very good, But that number alone doesn't really capture
the whole picture. The context of his career is everything here.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
It is because when you look at his pace, he's
on track to blow pass twelve hundred rushing yards. That's
elite territory.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
And that's before you even get to his receiving production.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Which is where his real value comes in. Is versatility.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Absolutely, you combine the rushing and receiving, his total scrimmage
yards are at one thy ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Ok So that's sixteenth overall among all players, not just
running backs.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Right, But the key takeaway here, and what we need
to emphasize for you is the consistency, the reliability.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
That's the word. He's averaging eighty four point five scrimmage
yards every single game and for a Jaguars offense that's been.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
A little up and down, he's been the one constant.
He's their most dependable weapon in twenty twenty five period,
and that's the foundation of any contract negotiation.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
But here's the thing. He already had one thousand yard
seasons in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. He did,
so why is twenty twenty five his best year?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It's about the efficiency, the timing, and the contrast. The
impact of this year is just magnified by how far
he fell on twenty twenty four. His production just fell
off a cliff.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, that contrast is essential. In twenty twenty four, what
was it, only five hundred and fifty eight.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Rushing yard and two touchdowns. He was pretty much overstarted
by Tank Bigsby.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
And we can't forget this is the guy who lost
his entire rookie season in twenty twenty one to that
horrible list fronc.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Injury, which is a brutal injury for a running back.
It affects the midfoot, you know, everything for explosion and cutting.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
So for him to come back and hit a thousand
yards right away was amazing. But maybe that twenty twenty
four dip, Yeah, maybe it was the accumulated wear and
tear finally catching up.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I think that's a huge insight. The sources suggest it
wasn't just bad luck. It was probably a mix of
that wear and tear and maybe a scheme that just
didn't play to his strengths.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So going from that major dip in twenty four to
being one of the most essential backs in the league
in twenty five, that's not just attitude. That's a change
in the whole architecture.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
It has to be an emotional and mental reset. And
this is where the sources, particularly his own interviews, give
us so much insight.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
He was incredibly open about it.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
He basically summed it all up by saying he was
finding my love for the game again. I mean, that's
a powerful thing for a pro athlete to say.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It suggests twenty twenty four wasn't just statistically bad. It
was it was draining, like the joy was gone exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
And he pointed to the locker room, the camaraderie, saying
it's the best part of this team. That tells you
the new environment under head coach Liam Cohne is about
more than just x's and o's.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It's about creating a better psychological space for the players.
But let's talk performance. He said he's getting opportunities now and.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
He explicitly said he wasn't allowed to be his best
self in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
That's a pretty direct, if subtle shot at the old
coaching staff, isn't that?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Oh? Absolutely, But it's also a massive vote of confidence
in the new guys. He gives them credit for trusting him,
for giving him.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
The ball, and then he immediately puts the accountability back
on himself, saying he's protecting the rock. He's saying, you
gave me the chance, and I'm holding up my end
of the bargain.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Which leads us right to Coach Cohne and his staff.
This whole transformation, it started back in the spring. They
were focused on integrating Etienne into Cohen's specific offense, and.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
For you at home, this is where it gets a
little technical, but it's so important. Cohen's system is heavy
on zone blocking, especially outside zone.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Exactly and that scheme is tailor made for a back
like Etienne. It demands vision, lateral speed, that burst, cut
up field skills.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
That the previous, maybe more power focused system just wasn't
using to its full potential. They fit the offense to the.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Player they did, and Cohen said at Tien came in
with the right mindset from the beginning. He was always
in the building, even on off days, just absorbing everything.
That's real commitment, and the coaches tapped into that. The
running backs coach, Chad Morton, he played a huge role here.
Morton said he had hard time conversations with him, and.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
A hard time conversation that's more than just critiquing film.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Oh yeah, it implies a much deeper level of engagement.
Morton was trying to figure out where at ten was
emotionally with all the pressure of the contract year.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So the coach realized the problem wasn't the talent, it
was the mental weight of it.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
All, precisely, the disappointment, the competition, the money on the line.
By addressing that emotional block, they freed him up to
just play fast again.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
That's some really smart coaching and a taded off.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Morton's final take on him found him smart and really reliable.
So you see how it all came together. A recommitted player,
perfect scheme, and a coach who invested in him as a.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Person, and all that set the stage for this dramatic
showdown in the offseason, because you know, even with all
these positive signs, the team was still pretty uncertain about him.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
They absolutely were. You have to remember that twenty twenty
four dip was serious. Bigsby had outplayed him seven hundred
and sixty six yards and seven touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
The power had definitely shifted.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It had, and the front office took that wait and
see approached very seriously. They didn't just talk up Bigsby.
They drafted two more running backs.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Bacial Tutan in the fourth and Laquin Allen Junior in
the seventh. That's not just adding depth, No.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
That's hedging your bets. That's taking out an insurance policy
on a guy you're not sure about anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
But then things changed, and they changed really fast.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Surprisingly fast. By early June during OTA's the whole feeling
around him had brightened. As one source put.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
It, and why what was the shift?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
He just showed up. He was in great shape. He
picked up the new offense instantly, and you could just
see it. He was moving better, more freely than he
had all of last year.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
He'd won that mental battle.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
It looked like it. They still had him share first
team reps in training camp, you know, kept up the
appearance of competition. But the real turning point that didn't
happen until week one, September seventh.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The season opener. That was the game that settled everything.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
That was the game. He was the clear number one
from the first snap, and he just went off sixteen
carries one hundred and forty three yards.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And that huge seventy one yarder that basically broke the
game open.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yep, and he added three catches. Meanwhile, Tank Bigsby barely
played five carries twelve yards.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
The game just laid it all out there, and the
front office reaction was, I mean, it was.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Swift, brutally swift. The very next day, Bigsby was traded
to Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
For a couple of late round picks in twenty twenty six,
twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
That's how quickly Wait and See turned into Travis Etienne
is our guy. The trade was the final chapter of
the comeback story.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And since that moment, his workload has been insane. The
sources show he accounts for sixty nine percent of the
team's total running back touches, sixty.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Nine percent rushes and receptions. That number is just staggering.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
It shows you how much this nine to four team
now depends on him. He's the engine.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So if we connect this to the bigger picture, this
whole deep dive really shows that peak performances. It's a convergence, right,
It's talent, it's opportunity, and maybe most importantly, emotional readiness.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Coach Cohen said, he's playing at a high level now,
and that high level is directly tied to the trust
in the scheme.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It's the perfect storm of personal motivation meeting organizational faith,
all happening in a contract year.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
So what does this all mean for you? You should now
have a really clear picture of the path at Tian
took to reach his career peak in a most critical
year possible.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Yeah, he went from being overshadowed and struggling to being
the absolute anchor for a playoff team, and.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
He did it by winning the mental game and finding
the perfect system. It's an incredible story of like professional redemption.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
It is, and the Jaguars, you know, they picked up
his fifth year options, so they believed in him to
some extent. But he's still heading to free agency. His
agent isn't just showing teams the yardage anymore. He's showing
them that usage rate.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Which leaves us with a final provocative thought for you
to think about. Given that he's still headed for free agency.
How much does that specific number, accounting for sixty nine
percent of his team's running back touches drive up the
price tag for his next contract.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Does a usage rate that high, which proves he can
handle that massive workload put him in the absolute top
tier of running back pay, whether.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
It's in Jacksonville or somewhere else. That's sixty nine percent
isn't just a stat anymore. It's the starting point for
his next negotiation.
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