Who Should I Start? Alvin Kamara or Travis Etienne

Tuesday, July 23, 2:45 PM

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara has reported for training camp despite leaving the team's minicamp early. Kamara's agent confirmed at the time that the running back's departure from minicamp was contract-related. Kamara's deal runs through 2025, and his appearance at camp should quell any speculation among fantasy managers that he was preparing for some kind of holdout. The five-time Pro Bowler caught a career-high 87.2% of his passes in 2023, but he's entering his age-29 season and has watched his rushing efficiency dip in each of the past three years. Despite having to share touches with Jamaal Williams and Kendre Miller, however, Kamara still projects as a fine RB2 in PPR setups after closing as the overall RB3 in full-PPR points per game over 13 contests last year.

Thursday, May 23, 6:23 PM

For the second straight season, the Jacksonville Jaguars plan to ease running back Travis Etienne Jr.'s workload in 2024. Despite similar plans last year, Etienne actually had a bigger workload in 2023 than he did in 2022, and head coach Doug Pederson doesn't want to repeat that. "We talked about this as a staff and myself, making sure Tank Bigsby gets opportunities to get out there and take some of the pounding off of Travis," head coach Doug Pederson said. Etienne took over as the top back in 2022 by mid-October and accounted for 61% of the RB carries and 60% of the RB touches. Last year, he had 75% of the RB carries and 76% of the RB touches. Bigsby never quite earned the trust of the coaches for a bigger role in 2023, but that figures to change this year. Etienne missed his rookie year with a Lisfranc foot injury but has since established himself as a top back in the NFL. However, his ceiling as an RB1 in fantasy in 2024 could be tough to come by.