Travis Etienne Jr. ($5,900; hamstring) has missed two games in a row, but Jaguars’ HC Doug Pederson told the media Wednesday that he “feels good” about Etienne Jr. returning this Sunday vs. the Eagles. Unfortunately for the back, it’s hard to imagine he will see a large workload coming off the hamstring injury. Etienne Jr. should operate as the Jaguars’ No. 2 back behind Tank Bigsby ($6,200), who has been the far more effective rusher this season.
Bigsby has rushed for at least 78 yards and in four of the Jaguars’ last five games and, for the season, he is averaging 5.8 yards per carry, which ranks sixth among all backs in the NFL. On the other hand, Etienne Jr. has been far less effective, with 4.1 yards per carry.
Bigsby has handled 81.5% of the Jaguars’ running back carries and logged 66.1% of the snaps with Etienne Jr. out the last two weeks, and while those numbers are going to decrease with the latter likely back this Sunday, Bigsby should still garner most of the work out of this backfield.
In the two games prior to Etienne Jr. getting hurt, Bigsby still led the way, even with Etienne Jr. active, logging 33% of the snaps and handling 55.6% of the Jaguars’ running back carries. Etienner Jr. only saw 25% of the carries and 27.5% of the snaps.
Bigbsy ranks sixth among running backs in FPTS per snap this season (0.53) and he has displayed a huge ceiling, with at least 26 FPTS in two of his last four games. The problem this week is that Jaguars are facing an Eagles’ defense that has been stingy against the run as of late, giving up the third-fewest yards per carry over the last three weeks (3.7). Plus, Jacksonville likely will be forced into a pass heavy game plan, as 7.5-point underdogs on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Bigsby will remain a solid RB3/FLEX play for season-long leagues if Etienne Jr. is active, but the former’s ceiling will be lower than usual in this difficult spot vs. Philadelphia.
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