Liam Coen denies Travis Etienne trade rumors: 'Absolutely inaccurate'
Pump the brakes on any Travis Etienne trade rumors.
The Jacksonville Jaguars running back has been a target of trade speculation over the last month. Part of the reasoning? His team's new regime – led by rookie general manager James Gladstone and rookie head coach Liam Coen – decided to draft two running backs in the 2025 NFL Draft: Bhayshul Tuten in the fourth round and LeQuint Allen in the seventh.
But Jaguars head coach Liam Coen's comments to reporters on Monday suggest that Etienne's job is safe.
"Every day, everything we've asked him to do, he's done at a good click for us," Coen said. "He's done a great job. I don't really understand some of the stuff I've seen out there. That's absolutely inaccurate."
The Jaguars have at least five running backs on their offseason roster after adding two in the draft: Etienne, Tank Bigsby and Keilan Robinson are returning (update: the Jaguars released Robinson on Wednesday, per ESPN), and Tuten and Allen are the incoming rookies.
Last year was Etienne's first full season without at least 1,000 rushing yards in his career as the Jaguars struggled offensively. The team finished the 2024 season averaging 101.7 rushing yards per game, the seventh-lowest average of any team last year.
After Etienne missed his entire rookie season with a Lisfranc injury, the Clemson product put together back-to-back 1,000-yard efforts in 2022 and 2023. That was an impressive feat in the latter season as he was beginning to split carries with Bigsby, the then-rookie that Jacksonville had drafted before the 2023 season.
In 2024, Etienne missed two games with a hamstring injury. He finished the year with 558 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on 150 carries – good for an average of 3.7 yards per carry. He also tallied 254 receiving yards on 39 catches for a total of 812 yards from scrimmage on 180 touches.
Notably, Bigsby finished ahead of Etienne in carries and rushing yards in 2024, though Etienne's injury meant that Bigsby did play in one more game than his more veteran counterpart.
Etienne is playing on his fifth-year option in 2025 and is set to become a free agent after the season.