JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Running back Travis Etienne Jr. knows this could be his last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is currently playing on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract for the franchise that drafted him 25th overall in 2021.
But putting any time into thinking about that would be a waste, he said. He’d rather focus on bouncing back from a disappointing 2024 and proving he’s capable of being a reliable playmaker again.
“I know I’m a great player. Everyone knows I’m a great player and it is just really just relying on your work,” Etienne said as the Jaguars wrapped up their three-day mandatory minicamp. “I feel like the work that I’m putting in this offseason is going to only propel me throughout the season no matter where I’m at. And I feel like for me, how I’m approaching it, if I do everything I can before the season, the season’s going to take care of itself.
After losing his rookie season to a Lisfranc injury, Etienne rushed for 2,133 yards and 16 touchdowns and caught 93 passes for 792 yards and one touchdown in 2022-23. Last season his production dipped significantly — 558 and two rushing touchdowns and 39 catches for 254 yards — as second-year player Tank Bigsby became the team’s top back (766 yards and seven TDs).
Part of Etienne’s decline could be attributed to the way he was used over the past two seasons in former head coach Doug Pederson’s offense. In 2022, 25.4% of his carries came outside the tackles and he averaged 8.3 yards per rush. Those numbers dipped in 2023 (23.2%, 3.7 yards per carry) and 2024 (21.3%, 3.0 yards per carry).
Etienne is at his best when he’s on the edge and in space, and he likes that new head coach Liam Coen’s offense seemed to put him in those spots a lot during the spring.
“He’s been getting me a lot in space,” Etienne said. “I love me one-on-one with anybody and just being able to make that first man miss and being able to get the extra yards. I feel like Liam has a great knack for getting the players the ball. It’s more so players than plays with Liam and he has a great feel for the game.”
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Coen liked what he saw from Etienne in the spring, especially his consistency.
“Every day, everything we have asked him to do he has done at a good click for us,” Coen said. “The ability in the screen game, to hand him jet sweeps, his vision so far in the run game’s been good. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and more.”
That’s a good sign because in addition to Bigsby, the Jaguars drafted two running backs: Bhayshul Tuten (who’s known for his speed) in the fourth round and LeQuint Allen Jr. in the seventh.
“I feel like we didn’t get here [the NFL] by not welcoming competition,” Etienne said. “This is not my first time I’ve been in a room with a group of runners. When I got here it was competition. There’s competition wherever you go. That’s just the way of the NFL. If you don’t have a competition, you’re not a really great team.”
Etienne isn’t the only Jaguars player who has much to prove in 2025. Here are four others who, for one reason or another, are under pressure to raise their level of play:
Lawrence isn’t in danger of going anywhere: He signed a five-year, $275 million extension with $200 million guaranteed last June, but he has yet to play at a high level over a full season and has battled six separate injuries over the past two seasons, including two concussions in an 11-month span.
Making things more difficult is that he’s learning his third offense since the Jaguars drafted him first overall in 2021.
Lawrence has been chasing the success he had between a 17-game stretch from Week 9 in 2022 to Week 8 in 2023, when he completed 69% of his passes (second-best in that stretch to Justin Herbert’s 69.5%) for 4,208 yards and 24 touchdowns with six interceptions (third lowest among QBs who started 10 or more games). The Jaguars went 13-4 over that period.
That’s a pretty good stretch, but the expectations for the player once tabbed a generational prospect are higher, especially when it comes to touchdown passes and turnovers. Lawrence has not thrown more than 25 in a season (2022) and he leads the NFL in turnovers (68) since he entered the league despite playing seven fewer games than Josh Allen (67 turnovers), who is the only other player with 60-plus turnovers.
There is optimism that Coen will be the coach to finally get a big season out of Lawrence, especially after Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a career-high 41 TD passes and a career-high 4,500 yards in 2024 in his lone season with Coen as his offensive coordinator.
Coen has completely reworked Lawrence’s footwork, which he said is vital to Lawrence being able to operate the offense effectively.
Harrison was a marginally better player in his second season (83.1% pass block win rate, 60th among tackles; 71.7% run block win rate, 51st among tackles) than he was as a rookie (80.2% pass block win rate, 67th among tackles; 69.4% run block win rate, 61st among tackles). But the Jaguars expected more growth out of the 27th overall pick in the 2023 draft.
He didn’t make big strides in the spring, either. He missed one of the OTAs open to the media because of an illness and when he was healthy and participating in the OTAs and minicamp open to the media he rotated with free-agent signee Chuma Edoga with the starters.
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When asked about Harrison, Coen did praise his footwork, athleticism, pass protection on the edge, and his understanding of the offense. However, he also said this: “When Anton wants to go, he can go, [it’s] just consistently doing it on a day-in, day-out basis.”
That was a subtle message to Harrison to come into training camp with a little more intensity. This will be Harrison’s third season and the Jaguars will have to decide whether to pick up his fifth-year option next spring. A marked improvement would make that decision easier. Another season with little to none could put right tackle in the upper part of the Jaguars’ needs list.
On his second day on the job, GM James Gladstone, while speaking at the combine, emphasized the importance of improving the interior of the offensive line to allow Lawrence to have more confidence in stepping into a throw.
He called that “setting the dish” and said when that happens “you’re going to feel a lot of success come off that.”
The Jaguars signed new starters at center in Robert Hainsey and right guard Patrick Mekari to replace the retired Mitch Morse and Brandon Scherff, respectively. And even though Cleveland, who signed a three-year extension worth $24 million in March 2024 under former GM Trent Baalke, ranked eighth among guards in run block win rate (74.5%) and 27th among guards in pass block win rate (92.7%) last season, the Jaguars still drafted Wyatt Milum out of West Virginia in the third round.
Milum started 43 games at left tackle for the Mountaineers and didn’t allow a sack in his final two seasons, but he projected as a guard in the NFL and the Jaguars are having him compete with Cleveland at left guard to be the starter.
Cleveland certainly has the early edge but the fact that the Jaguars want him pushed by someone who did not play inside in college should put him on notice.
The Jaguars drafted Jones in the third round in 2024, and he emerged late in the season as the top nickelback. The expectation as the season concluded was that he would compete to be a starter on the outside opposite Tyson Campbell in 2025.
Then Pederson got fired, Coen got hired, and he hired Anthony Campanile as his defensive coordinator. The Jaguars traded up to draft receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter and immediately said he would play both ways as he did at Colorado.
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It got worse for Jones when Campanile revealed his defense is heavy on zone coverage, which is something Jones said he never played in high school or college. Montaric Brown, who started 10 games outside last season, is good in zone coverage and worked with the starters throughout the spring.
“[Brown] loves to compete,” Campanile said. “Whether it’s on the line of scrimmage, he’s not afraid to challenge people, he’ll challenge guys at the top of the route and try to play with technique. But whatever he’s got to do to strain and make the play, he’s been doing that, which is awesome. That’s what we’ve been preaching, and he’s been doing it every day.”
Jones has had to take a crash course in zone coverage, and Campanile said he likes the extra work that Jones put in over the spring. Jones will be given a chance to compete for playing time, both outside and at nickel, but the Jaguars signed nickel back Jourdan Lewis in free agency so it’s unlikely Jones beats him out.
It may be hard for Jones to find much playing time in 2025.
