ESPN’s Bill Barnwell highlighted the best offseason deal for each NFL team. When it came to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Barnwell’s selection focused on the running back position, specifically, replacing Travis Etienne with Chris Rodriguez.
Admittedly, given that this was a fairly quiet offseason for the Jaguars, Barnwell didn’t have a lot of options to choose from, but he is bullish about the impact Rodriguez can make nonetheless.
Etienne would end up signing a four-year, $48 million free agent deal with New Orleans. Rodriguez, meanwhile, signed a two-year, $10 million deal to join the Jaguars.
“Cheaper isn’t necessarily better, but it does fit for Jacksonville,” Barnwell wrote. “For one, Etienne wasn’t being used as a featured back with the Jags under Coen. Even while staying healthy for all 17 games, Etienne played only 60% of the snaps for Jacksonville. Meanwhile, in a situational role over the past three years, Rodriguez has topped Etienne in explosive play rate (12.3%). He has been more successful near the goal line, scoring on 37% of his attempts to Etienne’s 29%.”
Having coached Rodriguez at Kentucky, Liam Coen is already quite familiar with his game. As Coen has mentioned previously, a running back’s ability to create yardage beyond what is available is a must-have quality, and Rodriguez has quietly done that very well.
Last season, Rodriguez ranked eighth among all running backs in average yards after contact. He would also rank 14th in rush yards over expected per attempt, according to Next Gen Stats.
As Barnwell mentions, Rodriguez hasn’t been utilized often as a pass-catcher, but Bhayshul Tuten and LeQuint Allen can shoulder those responsibilities.
How the exact running back rotation shakes out between these three remains to be seen, but Rodriguez figures to be a regular contributor, potentially even sharing the RB1 role with Tuten.
The addition of Rodriguez by the Jaguars has the potential of being a very good value signing.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: ESPN analyst selects Jaguars ‘best’ offseason deal
Reporting by Paul Bretl, Jaguars Wire / Jaguars Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
