Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby Jigga94 » Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:47 am

Nice write up.

Re: Sanders... Do you think ETN compares to him a bit?

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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby MEuRaH » Thu Apr 15, 2021 11:05 am

Jigga94 wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:47 amRe: Sanders... Do you think ETN compares to him a bit?
Oh boy, that's a fun one.

I think Sanders
-- has more power
-- is better at breaking tackles
-- has better lateral quickness
-- is the better overall runner

I think Etienne
-- has better vision (not hard to do, Sanders had terrible vision out of college)
-- has better patience
-- is quicker
-- is the better pass catcher and better in open space

I love the question. At first I thought they would be some good similarities, and now I don't think that's the case at all. Sanders is a great fit for Philly. I hope the same can be said for Etienne and his landing spot.
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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby remedy29 » Thu Apr 15, 2021 4:50 pm

Nice write up. This has me seriously reconsidering my 1.03 pick if ETN falls to there in my draft.

I feel ETN is destined for the Jets. He seems he will fit their new rushing style perfectly. The Jets lack offensive talent and I doubt they draft another round 1/2 WR this year. If SF is a good landing spot, the Jets have to be with the higher rookie QB and lesser WR talent, leading to more potential targets for ETN.

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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby Paul717 » Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:53 pm

[insert random comment to shamelessly 'bookmark' thread for me]
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QB: Jordan Love, Deshaun Watson
RB: Travis Etienne, Aaron Jones, Jamaal Williams, Kendre Miller, Jaleel McLaughlin, Sean Tucker, Deuce Vaughn
WR: A.J. Brown, Garrett Wilson, Tee Higgins, Calvin Ridley, Michael Wilson, Kendrick Bourne, Tutu Atwell, Allen Lazard, Isaiah Hodgins, Xavier Hutchinson
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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby Vcize » Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:15 pm

dlf_mikeh wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:33 am
CGW wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:29 ambut to me he is nowhere near the pure rushing talent of JT and nowhere near the overall talent as Barkley.
Then we agree, actually. Pure rusher = JT wins hands down. I expect more of a Kamara-type career with Etienne. Do you know how many 1,000 yard rushing seasons Kamara has had? Zero. But he's elite because of his ability to be effective in two facets of the game on a pass happy offense. I feel that same way about Etienne.
Thanks for the write-up. It was a good read.

I can get behind what you're saying here. My main concern though with the Kamara comp is with these type of players is it feels like getting onboard with a coach that knows how to use them is half the equation. Kamara hit the absolute jackpot in that respect with Sean Payton.

For instance you mentioned above that Arizona would be a great landing spot for ETN. But let's not forget this is the same Arizona that took Kenyan Drake, a similar style of running back, and turned him into a pound up the middle 2 yards and a cloud of dust banger than never got the ball outside and was rarely targeted in the passing game.

My other concern would kind of go in line with that, in that we've never really seen him play without a free run to wide open space. With only slight hyperbole he's probably never played a game in the last 4 years where he wasn't playing behind an offensive line that was completely dominant, with huge playmakers taking the defense's attention all over the field. This makes the above (a coach that knows how to use him) doubly as important, though even that can have limitations (Bush running free on dominant USC teams vs. Bush trying to do the same in the NFL).

I am a buyer on ETN, but cautiously.
Last edited by Vcize on Thu Apr 15, 2021 9:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby Dynos » Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:39 pm

what scares me about a player like kamara, we saw that without brees, kamara was a total different player (fantasy wise)

so I hope that etienne can run better then kamara or he gets in a team that like to throw screen pass

it's an interesting read btw, good job. In my new startup dynasty i had to choose between harris and etienne. I went with harris but i find it was really close between them
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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby OhCruelestRanter » Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:44 pm

Etienne is a fine prospect. Completely reasonable to call him the best RB in this class, especially considering we have no idea if Harris actually has NFL athleticism.

I have a hard time seeing how he’s clearly better than prospects like Miles Sanders, JK Dobbins, D’Andre Swift, Cam Akers, etc. He’s a good-to-very good prospect, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby MEuRaH » Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:07 am

Vcize wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:15 pm For instance you mentioned above that Arizona would be a great landing spot for ETN. But let's not forget this is the same Arizona that took Kenyan Drake, a similar style of running back, and turned him into a pound up the middle 2 yards and a cloud of dust banger than never got the ball outside and was rarely targeted in the passing game.
This is frustratingly true. I think many of us expected the targets to be there for Drake and they weren't. Good call. For some reason I just assumed it wouldn't happen again with Etienne, but as we all know, things don't always work out the way we see them in our minds.
OhCruelestRanter wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:44 pmI have a hard time seeing how he’s clearly better than prospects like Miles Sanders, JK Dobbins, D’Andre Swift, Cam Akers, etc. He’s a good-to-very good prospect, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Yeah maybe I could have worded that better. I think the upside on Etienne is higher than anyone since Barkley. He has 3-down potential and pass-catching abilities similar to Kamara. He's definitely not a better runner than any of those guys as far as a pure runner is concerned.

If Etienne goes to Pittsburgh and they turn him into Bell 2.0, whoa boy. I'll be tripping over myself to get him.
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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby esloan35 » Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:19 am

Great write up, been waiting on this guy for three years.

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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby Bronco Billy » Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:49 am

Vcize wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:15 pm For instance you mentioned above that Arizona would be a great landing spot for ETN. But let's not forget this is the same Arizona that took Kenyan Drake, a similar style of running back, and turned him into a pound up the middle 2 yards and a cloud of dust banger than never got the ball outside and was rarely targeted in the passing game.
Some HCs/GMs have a vision of what they want to build but don’t understand what it takes to build it. At the draft or in FA they see a really shiny new pipe wrench and go out and obtain it when what they really needed to complete the project is a hammer. Maybe they think that with the proper coaching that they can turn the pipe wrench into a hammer. So they use the pipe wrench like a hammer, and it works but maybe not nearly as well as the hammer would have. The really crappy HC/GMs will blame the wrench for not being a hammer when they finally wise up and decide to look for a different tool a couple years later.

ETA - then there are the HC/GMs who understand what tools they need perfectly. They bypass all the shiny new wrenches because they know they need a hammer and that as long as it is a hammer that they can make just about any hammer work and work well. My favorite example of this is Mike Shanahan/Gary Kubiak with RBs. They continually bypassed getting sexy top of the line RBs in the draft or in FA and instead just focused on lower level guys who fit their needs to a tee. Then people marveled when Terrell Davis or Olandis Gary or Mike Anderson turned in stellar performances when they were pretty much also-ran or throw-aways when DEN acquired them. They understood exactly what tool they needed and were not going to pay a ton for a different more sexy athletic studly looking tool that didn’t serve the purpose in their project. Those are the guys you keep a close eye on and try to acquire their guys before anyone else realizes it.

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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby CGW » Fri Apr 16, 2021 1:03 pm

dlf_mikeh wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:07 am Yeah maybe I could have worded that better. I think the upside on Etienne is higher than anyone since Barkley. He has 3-down potential and pass-catching abilities similar to Kamara. He's definitely not a better runner than any of those guys as far as a pure runner is concerned.

If Etienne goes to Pittsburgh and they turn him into Bell 2.0, whoa boy. I'll be tripping over myself to get him.
I can get on board with that. It's what I was trying to sell earlier as well. He's by no means the best rusher and really not even the best prospect as a running back. But, I can absolutely see the fantasy upside if he finds the right fit come draft day. He may very well end up as the best fantasy RB prospect since Barkley, but hes by no means immune to landing spots.

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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby Cameron Giles » Fri Apr 16, 2021 1:31 pm

I still wonder why he went back to college though for his senior year from a football perspective. It doesn't seem like his draft stock is any different, though I guess he went from being RB3-5 last year to RB 1-2 now.

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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby Dragon_Breath5 » Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:14 pm

Cameron Giles wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 1:31 pm I still wonder why he went back to college though for his senior year from a football perspective. It doesn't seem like his draft stock is any different, though I guess he went from being RB3-5 last year to RB 1-2 now.
He reportedly promised his Mom/family that he would get his degree. I've also read that he's a role model is his hometown (Jennings, LA) so this explanation makes sense.
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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby CGW » Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:51 pm

Dragon_Breath5 wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:14 pm
Cameron Giles wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 1:31 pm I still wonder why he went back to college though for his senior year from a football perspective. It doesn't seem like his draft stock is any different, though I guess he went from being RB3-5 last year to RB 1-2 now.
He reportedly promised his Mom/family that he would get his degree. I've also read that he's a role model is his hometown (Jennings, LA) so this explanation makes sense.
Both of those are easy and noble excuses to make. In reality, it also probably had something to so him being rated lower than he had hoped last year in a very strong class. He bet on himself going back to school for a draft class that has minimal talent/depth.

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Re: Opinion: Travis Etienne is the best RB prospect since Barkley

Postby Jigga94 » Fri Apr 16, 2021 4:12 pm

CGW wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:51 pm
Dragon_Breath5 wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:14 pm
Cameron Giles wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 1:31 pm I still wonder why he went back to college though for his senior year from a football perspective. It doesn't seem like his draft stock is any different, though I guess he went from being RB3-5 last year to RB 1-2 now.
He reportedly promised his Mom/family that he would get his degree. I've also read that he's a role model is his hometown (Jennings, LA) so this explanation makes sense.
Both of those are easy and noble excuses to make. In reality, it also probably had something to so him being rated lower than he had hoped last year in a very strong class. He bet on himself going back to school for a draft class that has minimal talent/depth.
I really do think he would've been taken in the 2nd round though. 3rd at worst. Probably exactly where he goes this year


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