Travis

Etienne

Etienne begins the week with a limited session, which is either good or bad, depending on when the injury occurred. If this is a lingering issue from Sunday, Etienne should be considered likely to play. Limited practices early in the week are generally a good sign. However, if he suffered the injury during today’s practice, his Week 3 availability would be in jeopardy. Veteran Saints RB Alvin Kamara would likely get the start, but RB Kendre Miller would be FLEX-viable if Etienne sits.

Etienne tallied just two carries in the first half of this one while Alvin Kamara led the Saints backfield with 10 total touches through the first two quarters. Things would shift more in Etienne’s favor in the second half, as he out-snapped Kamara 21-to-7 while out-touching him 8-to-4. It was a disappointing outing overall, however, for the 27-year-old back, who has yet to find the end zone in his first two games and has managed just 109 yards from scrimmage on 26 touches. He’ll be hard to trust as anything more than an RB2/RB3 in next week’s game against the Raiders.

Kamara was limited throughout practice last week and was ruled out with inactives. Moore said today that he could have played but needed more time on task, implying that limited preparation was the larger issue, not Kamara’s health. Travis Etienne split work with Kendre Miller last week. Kamara will presumably take on Miller’s role as the backup, though he could also eat into Etienne’s target total. Etienne caught seven balls in his Saints debut. If he loses that work, Etienne could fall out of the RB2 ranks entirely.

Etienne was taken off the field a surprising amount, ceding nine carries to Kendre Miller and another two to CJ Donaldson. Donaldson also logged two targets. While his role on the ground was concerning for fantasy managers, a nine-target outing cushioned the blow slightly. In PPR leagues, Etienne did enough. Unless the Saints are going to play in overtime shootouts every week, Etienne will need to take on more rushing work to be a weekly RB2. With Alvin Kamara potentially returning next week, Etienne will sit on the RB2/3 border for his date with the Ravens.

Underhill notes that Kamara practiced fully on Friday, “so he’s cleared, but the team is deep at running back.” This is good news for starting RB Travis Etienne, who should lead the team in carries easily and potentially hog snaps in scoring position since Kamara will be less than 100 percent healthy, if active. Saints RB3 Kendre Miller is the next man up.

Kamara, 31, exited the Saints’ Tuesday scrimmage with a knee injury. The one-month recovery timeline — at best — means Kamara will likely miss the team’s regular season opener, and perhaps their Week 2 game. Travis Etienne, meanwhile, should function as something close to a workhorse while Kamara is sidelined. Etienne’s PPR upside gets a boost if Kamara is sidelined for the first couple regular season contests.

Travis Etienne is getting “the bulk” of the first-team reps on early downs, and Duncan notes “he’ll be surprised if it’s a Kamara-Mark Ingram-like 50-50 split when all is said and done.” It feels like Kamara is settling in for a lower situational role, but perhaps not situational enough for the comfort of Etienne-reliant fantasy managers, as the Saints’ new signing carries an ADP in the late 30s or early 40s on most sites.

It’s almost certainly a pay cut for Kamara, but the Saints could also be throwing him a bone with incentives or extra years on his deal. The Saints spent much of the offseason trying to get Kamara to agree to a new deal but had little leverage to make it happen. Kamara has talked about wanting to finish his career in New Orleans, so he may have decided to concede financially in order to stay put. He will likely pitch in on passing downs to take some work of Travis Etienne’s plate. Etienne, however, still figures to see the bulk of the carries and some designed targets.

What does this mean for fantasy purposes? In short, it means he thinks the Saints are going to feature Etienne as an offensive focal point. Underhill believes the Saints are entering a “post-Alvin Kamara world,” although he acknowledges that Kamara may stick around for one more season. That said, Underhill thinks Etienne will operate as a “full-volume starter” and describes him as a “three-down player.” If Kamara does play for the Saints this season, Underhill does not think Kamara’s presence “changes the outcome significantly” for Etienne’s touch count. Toward the end of the segment, Underhill projects Etienne for 235 carries, 1,050 rushing yards, eight rushing touchdowns, 42 catches, 330 receiving yards and 3-4 receiving touchdowns. Splitting the difference on the receiving touchdowns brings the total to 231.5 PPR points, which would have made him the RB15 last season. Treating him as a high-end RB2 with RB1 upside makes sense.

The participants include Nick Underhill, Mike Triplett, John Hendrix and Adam Guttuso. Kamara’s status with the team is still up in the air, and Underhill notes that all four reporters “have Kamara on the roster for now, but none of us really understands the endgame there.” The Saints have reportedly been lining up RB Ty Chandler in the backfield, out wide and in the slot, theoretically foreshadowing Kamara’s role, if he indeed remains a Saint. If Kamara leaves, RB Travis Etienne can be expected to handle a high-end workload. If Kamara remains, his touch count could keep Etienne stuck in the fantasy RB2 tier.