As of August 29th, Travis Etienne is being drafted as the 24th player in Yahoo Fantasy Football Round 2 ADP. He is being drafted as the eleventh player at the running back position in current fantasy football drafts, ahead of Aaron Jones, Joe Mixon, and Rhamondre Stevenson.
*Check out the full Yahoo ADP at 4for4!*
Yahoo Round 2 ADP:
| # | Player | Team |
| 1 | Saquon Barkley | New York Giants |
| 2 | A.J. Brown | Philadelphia Eagles |
| 3 | Amon-Ra St. Brown | Detroit Lions |
| 4 | Davante Adams | Las Vegas Raiders |
| 5 | Garrett Wilson | New York Jets |
| 6 | Derrick Henry | Tennessee Titans |
| 7 | Josh Jacobs | Las Vegas Raiders |
| 8 | Jaylen Waddle | Miami Dolphins |
| 9 | Jonathan Taylor | Indianapolis Colts |
| 10 | DeVonta Smith | Philadelphia Eagles |
| 11 | Chris Olave | New Orleans Saints |
| 12 | Travis Etienne | Jacksonville Jaguars |
According to current 4for4 Half PPR Rankings, these players are going too high in Yahoo Round 2 ADP:
Travis Etienne Fantasy Football Outlook – Etienne finished as the fantasy RB16 last season. Once James Robinson was traded, Etienne averaged 18.2 touches per game for 93 yards and 0.44 touchdowns the rest of the way. Unfortunately, he was never targeted much (2.2 targets per game in that span) and the team drafted Tank Bigsby and signed D’Ernest Johnson to provide more backfield depth.
Bigsby has his backers, but Johnson was excellent in 100 carries back in 2021, when he finished seventh in yards after contact per attempt and was fifth in broken tackles per rush attempt, per Pro Football Reference. Etienne was solid in those metrics–22nd and 12th, respectively–last season. The Jaguars reportedly “didn’t want to see” Etienne taking 74 percent of the carries again, which is why they added Bigsby and Johnson. JaMycal Hasty will also be in the mix. It’s tough to project a big second-year jump for a player who was a fantasy RB2 last season and faces more touch competition in year two.
Jonathan Taylor Fantasy Football Outlook – Taylor is an interesting case heading into 2023. He was far and away the fantasy RB1 in 2021 but followed that up with an 11-game RB31 finish thanks to multiple (ankle, knee) injuries. He should have a bounce-back season since he’s still very much in his prime (age 24), and the Colts’ offense is looking up with both QB Anthony Richardson in the fold and new HC (and former Eagles OC) Shane Steichen running the show.
Taylor is a capable pass-catcher–76 catches in his first two seasons–but I expect his receiving production to dip with the Colts utilizing a run-heavy scheme with Richardson at quarterback. He’ll need to have a massive rushing season to return value as the RB4 off the board, but that’s entirely feasible given his talent, the Colts’ solid offensive line, and Steichen’s scheme.
According to current 4for4 Half PPR Rankings, these players are going too low in Yahoo Round 2 ADP:
Derrick Henry Fantasy Football Outlook – Fading the then 28-year-old Derrick Henry in 2022 turned out to be a mistake. He played 16 games, amassed 1,538 yards and 13 touchdowns on 349 touches, and smashed his career high with 33 catches for 398 yards. His 1,936 total yards was the second-highest of his career. He finished as the fantasy RB4 in half-PPR behind only Austin Ekeler, Christian McCaffrey and Josh Jacobs.
On a per-game basis, he finished just 0.5 fantasy points per game out of the RB2 spot (McCaffrey). Given his age (still sub-30 at 29-years-old) and light usage early in his career–just 501 total carries in his first three seasons–there should still be quite a bit of tread left on Henry’s tires. His advanced stats–fourth in both yards after contact per attempt and broken tackles per attempt–showed no signs of a decline.
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Why you should avoid drafting Travis Etienne at ADP in Yahoo 2023 Fantasy Football Leagues
Travis Etienne’s bounceback in 2022 was a delight to see, but it didn’t come without a few hiccups along the way. Through 17 games, the back would score fewer than 10 half-PPR fantasy points in nine games (53%), as he wasn’t quite as involved in the passing game as maybe we had hoped after spending so much time at Clemson catching balls from Trevor Lawrence. He never caught more than three passes in any single game, and according to 4for4’s Player Stat Explorer, Lawrence’s 13.3% target share to the running back position was the fourth-lowest among the 35 quarterbacks with at least 200 dropbacks.
As he’s being squeezed out of the passing game by Lawrence’s propensity to air the ball out to his receivers, it’s unlikely to get better as a returning Calvin Ridley is back up to full speed by all accounts. Now, after sharing the backfield with the likes of JaMycal Hasty, Snoop Conner, and some time with Darrell Henderson, the Jaguars went out and signed free agent D’Ernest Johnson and took Tank Bigsby in the third round.
The rookie is not only set up to spell Etienne in the rotation but also has the opportunity for goal-line work, where the incumbent back scored three touchdowns on 13 attempts (23.1%) from inside the opponent’s 5-yard line. That was well below the league average of 39.2% and ranked 20th out of the 22 backs with at least 10 rushing attempts in that area.
*Take a look at more Overvalued Running Backs for the 2023 Season:
These 4 running backs are OVERVALUED in fantasy football 👀 @Justin_Redwards broke down four running backs to avoid this season ⏬ https://t.co/5nRyJxzrrc
— 4for4 Fantasy Football (@4for4football) August 14, 2023
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