Who Should I Start? Travis Etienne Jr. or Bucky Irving
Week 1 Projections
| Fant. Pts. |
Rush. Yds. |
Rush TD |
Rec. | Rec. Yds. |
Rec TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14.5 | 62.1 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 21.8 | 0.1 |
Travis Etienne Jr. News
Friday, September 4, 7:16 AM
New Orleans Saints running back Travis Etienne Jr. already looked headed for the bigger share of this backfield, and Alvin Kamara's knee injury could give him even more work out of the gate. Kamara was still absent from the portion of Thursday's practice open to the media as he works back from a sprained MCL. Kendre Miller has also been sidelined this week, which only adds to the uncertainty behind Etienne. The 27-year-old handled most of the first-team early-down work before Kamara was hurt, then finished camp healthy while the rest of the room dealt with injuries. Etienne is coming off 1,107 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on 260 carries in Jacksonville, plus 36 catches for 292 yards and six more scores. He now sits at RB15 in the latest PPR rankings. Kamara avoided injured reserve and still has time to make it back for the opener, so this may be a short-term boost rather than a season-long change. For now, Etienne has a clearer path to heavy volume than he did a few weeks ago.
Week 1 Projections
| Fant. Pts. |
Rush. Yds. |
Rush TD |
Rec. | Rec. Yds. |
Rec TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.7 | 57.8 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 18.9 | 0.1 |
Bucky Irving News
Friday, September 4, 6:22 AM
Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving is primed to bounce back in fantasy football now that he's fully healthy for the 2026 season. Irving missed a whopping seven games in his second pro season last year, which resulted in him falling to RB34 with just 865 scrimmage yards and four total touchdowns. For context, he had been the RB13 the year prior. Irving is now fully healthy again, giving him a good chance to push for a top-12 finish in fantasy football at the running back position. There are certainly some other mouths to feed here, but as far as the backfield goes, Irving has pretty clearly solidified himself over Kenny Gainwell and Sean Tucker. In fact, the presence of those two other backs could allow the Bucs to manage Irving's workload. Sure, that might lower his ceiling slightly, but it will also reduce injury risk and increase the chance of him playing all 17 games. As it stands, Irving ranks as the RB19 in RotoBaller's latest redraft rankings. He has an ADP of 52.7, which corresponds to the fifth round of fantasy drafts and makes him the 22nd running back off the board.
Travis Etienne Jr. vs. Bucky Irving
Still trying to decide between Etienne Jr. and Irving? Check on the latest news to make sure both players are active and healthy. Our PPR projections show that Travis Etienne Jr. is projected to score 14.5 points this week while Bucky Irving is projected to score 12.7 points.
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