On the Move: Breaking Down Travis Etienne to the Saints

After being one of fantasy’s biggest busts in 2024, Travis Etienne roared back into relevance in 2025 for the Jaguars, who under the leadership of Liam Cohen made it back to the postseason. After re-establishing himself as a top RB, Etienne is now moving on from Jacksonville and joining the New Orleans Saints. Is this a downgrade for Etienne, and will he be able to maintain the level of production he has set for himself through his four NFL seasons?

There’s no question that going from the Jaguars to the Saints is a downgrade in overall environment. Jacksonville was sixth in the NFL in points scored, while the Saints were fifth-worst. Part of that, however, was shaky QB play in New Orleans with one of the league’s worst running games unable to provide support. Last season the Saints’ leading rusher was Alvin Kamara, who not only turned 30 in 2025, but is primarily known as a receiving back. He led the team with 131 carries, while Devin Neal, Kendre Miller, Audric Estime and TE Taysom Hill all mixed in with under 60 attempts apiece. And all of these players were running behind the second-worst run blocking unit in the NFL, per PFF. The Saints did try to address this by signing G/T David Edwards away from the Bills this offseason, but bringing in a legitimate bell cow signals the Saints are ready to commit to having a real running game.

Because Jacksonville has mostly underwhelmed while Etienne has been there, and his 2024 campaign was such a disaster, his overall body of work is underrated. In four season, Etienne has logged 260+ carries twice, and ran the ball 220 times as a rookie. In those three seasons, he has eclipsed 1,000 yards in all of them, and surpassed 1,100 rushing yards twice. He’s been a complete back his whole career too, posting 1,399+ total yards in every season but 2024. Etienne did have solid competition for work in 2025 from rookie Bhayshul Tuten, but still posted a career-best 13 total touchdowns. He has been a durable player thus far, logging 17 games in three of his four seasons, and still playing in 15 games in 2024. In fact, his availability contributed to how bad 2024 was, because managers continued to use him. 2025 was his second-most efficient season from a yards per carry standpoint, as he ate up 4.3 yards per rush, and he was a home run threat too logging nine plays of 20+ yards.

With all that said, it’s still going to be a bit of a shock to the system going from an efficient offense armed to the teeth with playmakers to a Saints squad that traded away Rashid Shaheed, has question marks at QB, and really has one WR (Chris Olave) that opponents need to fear. So whether or not Etienne can be a low-end RB1 or high-end RB2 hinges on what Alvin Kamara’s future is in New Orleans, and what he has left in the gas tank. While Etienne has been a consistent player who can make big plays, he’s been relatively inefficient since his stellar rookie season. He has averaged 3.8, 3.7 and 4.3 yards per carry since his rookie year, marks that don’t measure up to the best at the position. Etienne has bolstered that, however, by being one of the better dual threats in the NFL. Etienne has caught 35+ passes in each of his four seasons, and last year spiked for six receiving touchdowns. That’s likely an outlier – prior to that, he’d never scored more than one TD through the air in any season – but scoring one touchdown or six are both extreme outcomes. With his volume and talent, it’s likelier that he’ll be around 2-4 touchdowns as a receiver…if Kamara is just taking a backseat.

For years, Kamara has been among the elite pass-catching RBs in the NFL, and if he’s sticking around the Saints that’s going to become a specialty role for him with Etienne taking over the grinding stuff. That makes sense for the Saints from a real life perspective to keep both players fresh and explosive, but it’s horrible for both fantasy wise. Downgrading the overall environment and offensive line for Etienne means he needs to have his regular volume, if not more. That won’t happen if we have clear-cut roles and he’s coming off the field in passing situations. Making matters worse, Etienne was actually a far superior receiver out of the backfield according to PFF, posting a 62.1 receiving grade vs. Kamara’s shocking 39.5 mark. If Kamara decides to hang up the cleats and/or truly becomes a depth/situational player with Etienne taking the lion’s share of work in New Orleans, then he should be a very big value. Even coming off a big year the presence of Kamara plus the outlook of the Saints as a whole should depress his average draft position to a degree. But if Kamara remains heavily involved in the passing game, Etienne becomes an early-down timeshare player with some nice TD upside. That’s a very useful player, but not one with RB1 potential, and who will struggle to return big value on a third or fourth round ADP. We will need to monitor the trajectory of Kamara, but I am leaning toward being pro-Etienne when our draft season really begins.