Jaguars' Travis Etienne Reacts to Madden Speed Rating
It was hardly a surprise to see the Jacksonville Jaguars have a running back with one of the best speed ratings in the released scores for Madden NFL 2023.
What was a surprise was which running back it was.
Jaguars running back Travis Etienne is one of the most explosive players on the team and proved to be a speed demon during his prolific career at Clemson, but he found himself off the list of Madden's top-10 speeds at running back.
What is strange is another Jaguars running back -- Nathan Cottrell -- was on the top-10 list ... despite having the same exact speed rating as Etienne with 92. Each is tied for No. 9 among running backs in the latest version of the game, tying with other running backs such as Nick Chubb and Saquon Barkley. For whatever reason, Etienne wasn't featured on the top-10 list despite qualifying.
There is also the fact that Etienne ran a 4.45 40-yard dash as a prospect. Tony Pollard ran a 4.52 and Derrick Henry ran a 4.54. Both have been big-play running backs throughout their careers, but there isn't much to suggest either is actually faster than Etienne.
"The speed’s real. I mean that was obviously something everybody knew coming out of college not having a chance to see a lot of the stuff he was able to do last year because he wasn’t able to play, so the speed’s very real," Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor said about Etienne at the end of OTAs.
"He did a good job of just showing understanding of the different roles we’re trying to see. We’re throwing him in all different positions just to see what he’s comfortable with, what he needs to work on as we move forward, give him plans moving further into summer coming back for training camp. But he’s been really receptive to everything. He's shown an ability to grasp a lot of different things and show that he’s capable of doing things.”
Etienne led Clemson in rushing as a true freshman, carrying the ball 107 times for 766 yards and 13 touchdowns while earning Third-Team All-Conference honors. He took his game to another level when Clemson won the National Championship in 2018, rushing for 1,658 yards and 24 touchdowns and catching another two touchdowns. His 26 touchdowns set a conference record and earned him ACC Player of the Year, First-Team All-American, and First-Team All-Conference.
Etienne repeated as First-Team All-American and All-Conference and as ACC Player of the Year in 2019 when he rushed for 1,614 yards and 19 touchdowns and caught 37 passes for 432 yards and four touchdowns.
He ended his Clemson career with another year in which he led the ACC in rushing and was named to multiple First-Teams, rushing for 914 yards and 14 touchdowns and catching 48 passes for 588 yards and two touchdowns as a senior.
