Jacksonville Jaguars debutant Travis Etienne will undergo surgery for a Lisfranc injury and will likely miss the entire 2021 season, a league source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Etienne suffered a left foot injury in Monday’s loss to New Orleans. Tuesday’s tests showed the extent of the damage.
Etienne caught a pass for 3 yards and carried the ball once for 1 yard before his injury against the Saints.
The Jaguars ranked Etienne 25th overall and coach Urban Meyer said he planned to have Etienne line up on the receiver in addition to coming back, similar to the way he used Percy Harvin in Florida. However, he only had one cover in the preseason opening against the Browns, though he was open on the floor for what could have been a great play, but Gardner Minshew knocked him down.
Meyer said he expects Etienne to add an important element to the offense. The Jaguars were last in the NFL in combined rounds of 20 yards or more and passed plays of 30 or more yards, according to ESPN Stats & Info. They had 16, which was 33 less than league leader Baltimore Ravens.
Etienne was one of the most explosive players in the country for the past four years. He led all college football players with 55 runs of 20 or more yards from 2017 to ’20, running for 2,053 yards and 21 touchdowns, an average of 37.3 yards per run in those big plays.
Etienne also received six receptions of 30 yards or more, giving him 61 explosive plays. In comparison, the Jaguars had 97 explosive plays from 2017-2020. The Kansas City Chiefs led the NFL with 173 and the only four teams that didn’t have 100 (the Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins and New York Jets) had losing records during that period. The Jaguars also scored 19.5 points per game in those four seasons, less than all teams except five.
Etienne left Clemson as the all-time leading runner in the ACC (4,752 yards).