The Jacksonville Jaguars are moving on from Travis Etienne Jr. ahead of 2026. It’s not like that decision came easily, as Jacksonville relied heavily on its former second-round pick to the tune of at least 1,400 scrimmage yards, 250 total touches, and five touchdowns in three of his four seasons between 2022-2025. It’s fair to say they didn’t have much of a choice, however, as Etienne signed a four-year, $47.4 million contract with the New Orleans Saints, leaving the organization without much of a choice but to rely on recent draft picks Bhayshul Tuten and LeQuint Allen, and recent free agent addition Chris Rodriguez Jr.
Rodriguez is one-of-a-kind when it comes to those free agent additions: Height: 5' 11”Weight: 224lbsAge: 25Contract: 2yr, $10M2025: 13 G, 500 RUSH YDS, 3 REC, 30 REC YDS, 6 TD The Jaguars committed guaranteed money to just one outside free agent addition: Rodriguez. If you’re interested in making connections on why he was the only one they felt comfortable committing themselves to, this one is rather obvious. Rodriguez played under head coach Liam Coen during their time together at Kentucky in 2021, with the latter then serving as offensive coordinator where he called plays for the former to run for 1,379 yards and score 12 touchdowns.
It’s, to date, the most successful season of Rodriguez’s football life, and the expectation will be that he and the other running backs on the roster can help replicate it in 2026. Rodriguez isn’t going to replace Etienne on a carry-for-carry basis, but he already understands many of the concepts and expectations that come within the system and can help supplement both Tuten and Allen. If he can help lead the group effort in replacing one man’s lost production, that offense should be in fine shape.
If he can’t, there could be some major problems on the horizon.
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