The New Orleans Saints have made a long-awaited move, opening running back Travis Etienne's practice window. He's been out of action since Week 3 after hurting his hamstring, where at that point he was the team's leading rusher. He could return as soon as Sunda, and with him back, the ground game could be the steadiest it's been in weeks.
A reliable baseline could be used on the offense and getting their former leading rusher back can only help them, especially given how poor the ground game looked in Etienne's absence. The rest of the room will have to step up, especially returning back Audric Estime, who should be the Saints' new RB2 after his performance last week.
Firing run game coordinator T.J. Paganetti was step one, then the Saints let go of halfback Kendre Miller the day before the Browns game, which was a big surprise to many. Any stress that's been felt due to the moves should be a bit eased already, though, with the Saints putting up 160 yards on the ground against Cleveland. When he comes back, Etienne has a real opportunity to build onto a run game that might finally be flourishing.
Saints RB Travis Etienne won't be at it alone when he gets returns to the playing field
Last Sunday's rushing performance wasn't just Estime's doing, with Tyler Shough putting up a season-high 51 rushing yards. Travis Etienne won't be going at it alone when he comes back, and his speed, burst, and versatility as a pass catcher are a real way to get something out of this offense.
The New Orleans run scheme is still in transition right now, which makes Etienne’s return more important. With three 1,000-yard rushing seasons under his belt, he could push the rushing attack even further than it did last week.
Week three against the Raiders was when the ground game really started to take off, with Etienne gaining 57 yards on 13 carries and averaging 4.4 yards per carry before being injured. It still holds up as one of the best rushing performances by a Saints running back this season, and it wasn’t until Kendre Miller’s week six output (70 yards on 20 carries, 3.5 YPC) that it was one-upped. Furthermore, Etienne led the team in total rushing yards (128) until week six.
The ground game gets its best shot to steady itself once Etienne is back, and now he's almost ready to take that very shot. It's currently unclear if he'll be seeing the field this Sunday against the Panthers, but whenever he does return to game action, he'll have an offense that's been waiting for him.
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