Who Should I Start? Chris Rodriguez Jr. or Chris Collier

Saturday, April 11, 8:48 PM

The Jacksonville Jaguars went out and signed running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. to a two-year, $10 million deal this offseason. He replaces Travis Etienne Jr. in the Jags' backfield, but that doesn't mean that we should pencil Rodriguez in to acquire all of Etienne's vacated carries (260) and targets (52). Rather, Rodriguez will compete with Bhayshul Tuten for the lead-back role during training camp, and third-string running back LeQuint Allen should also carve out significant volume as a passing-down specialist. Therefore, Rodriguez's ceiling isn't RB10, where Etienne ranked in 2025, but rather a mid-range RB2. The same can be said for Tuten. The good news is that Rodriguez presumably fills a hole the Jaguars' front office believed they had. Otherwise, they wouldn't have actively gone out and signed him to a multi-year deal. He's not a lock to finish 2026 as a top-36 fantasy running back, but there's RB3/flex value here if the backfield ends up split, and he has RB2 upside if he wins the lead-back role.