Who Should I Start? D'Andre Swift or Travis Etienne

Tuesday, March 26, 4:39 PM

The Chicago Bears signing of former Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles running back D'Andre Swift was one of the first moves of free agency, and head coach Matt Eberflus suggested he will be a passing game weapon for the organization. "We just felt that we wanted a home-run hitter there. I think D'Andre brings that. We wanted a weapon back -; a guy who could be a weapon out of the backfield," Eberflus said. "I know that in situational football it's very difficult to be able to have the two guys outside covered, two tight ends covered, and then you got another situation where you have the weapon back inside. So that was critical." It sounds like Chicago is planning to utilize Swift out of the backfield more often, which was a role he excelled in while in Detroit. Swift posted just a 10% target share in his lone season in Philadelphia after being at 15.1% in 2022 and 18.4% in 2021. With Chicago almost certainly slated to take USC's Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Swift could see a ton of usage underneath as a receiver while Williams feels out the NFL game.

Wednesday, February 28, 2:04 PM

Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Jr.'s 325 touches last year were third-most in the NFL for a RB, but head coach Doug Pederson said that Etienne as a workhorse back "is not the recipe" he prefers. Pederson mentioned that D'Ernest Johnson was injured in 2023, and Tank Bigsby was learning as a rookie. The head coach said he'd consider knocking some of Etienne's reps down next season in order to keep him healthy over the course of the year. All in all, the 25-year-old topped 1,000 rushing yards for the second time in his two NFL seasons, and he also improved as a pass-catcher with 58 catches for 476 yards. Etienne will remain the Jaguars' lead back and will be an RB1 target for fantasy managers, but you'll need to keep in mind that if the team has it their way, Etienne's total touches will be managed more.