Bouce Back Jaguars on Both Sides of the Coin

Should the 2025 Jacksonville Jaguars rebound from a tough season last year, the team would require help from QB Trevor Lawrence and two other players selected within eight picks of one another in the 2021 NFL Draft, RB Travis Etienne and DB Tyson Campbell.

In a recent podcast from the Jacksonville Jaguars On SI's John Shipley, the beat writer mentioned three candidates for a return to form in 2025, and they were all selected at the top of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Jags. Lawrence's need to rebound and stay healthy has been well documented. But Shipley added the running back and defensive backs to the equation.

"Health has been a consistent theme in this, and it's true here as well. If you look at his [Travis Etienne's] season last year, in his previous two seasons, it just looks like a complete anomaly. I mean, he played in 15 games last year, so he only really missed two starts, but he was banged up for a lot of the year, but his yards per attempt were a career low, 3.7 yards per game. His you know, carries were obviously at a career low. His yards went from 1,008 year before to 558 with only two touchdowns after 11 the previous year. He also caught fewer passes, career low receiving yards, you know, career low success rate as a receiver. It was just a lot of career lows for Travis Etienne last year," cited Shipley.

"They [The Jaguars] also had Tank Bigsby, who's played well at spurts. But then, to me, the biggest thing to do with his [Etienne's] production, outside of his health, is that, obviously, the Jaguars were one of the worst run-blocking offensive lines in the NFL for the last couple of seasons now. So I think [for] Travis Ettienne, I think the offensive line [needs to] improve. He can certainly have a chance towards having a bounce back season. I think the running scheme itself will obviously be better with Liam Coen overseeing it, as opposed to the last regime's construction of the running game, which, as we've said before, it seems like they had, like the most variety in their running game among NFL teams last year, because they ran everything. They just weren't good at it".

"So I think if their offensive line improves this year, I think you see a better year from Travis Etienne, because now I don't think he's one of the NFL elite backs, but he's certainly better, in my opinion, [than] what the numbers showed last season."

In all cases, health has been a major factor, but in each case, nobody has rebounded quite well. You can add DB Tyson Campball to the category.

"Tyson Campbell had a true breakout season in 2022, and he looks like one of the best up and coming cornerbacks in the NFL But the last two seasons, [he had] a lot of injuries, he missed six games in 2023, he missed five games last year and only played in 12 games. Last year was actually the first year he didn't record an interception. He only recorded six pass breakups. It just was not the year that Tyson Campbell has had in the past".

"He's another guy who a lot like Trevor, in my opinion, when he's healthy, he plays really solid, really good football. A healthy Tyson Campbell has the ability to be a top 10-to-12 to-15 cornerback in the NFL today. But when he's injured, that's the issue. Because one, he's missing games. Two, sometimes he's playing and he's not 100%, and then he's just not Tyson Campbell. He's not the dominant cornerback he is normally when he is healthy, so I think just being healthy to him is the biggest step to him having a bounce back season".

"He had a really good off season. There was no question in that, and the coaching staff seemed jacked up about this guy. He challenged Brian Thomas Jr, even a lot in practices. I I'd say Tyson Campbell was one of the best performers of the entire offseason. And they're now moving towards that more vision-based zone coverage, off-coverage scheme, that he should have more chances to make plays on the ball than he had last year".

So the Jaguars have an opportunity to be in the conversation for the 2025 postseason, the trio of Lawrence, Campbell and Etienne will be a major factor if they can just party like it's 2022.

Please let us know your thoughts when you like our Facebook page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE to talk about this trio!

Ensure you follow on X (Twitter) @JaguarsOnSI and @_John_Shipley and never miss another breaking news story again.