Alvin Kamara’s return in Week 2 absolutely rocked Travis Etienne’s workload, tripling his touches and leaving everyone wondering what the heck is going on. After the contract Etienne got, to see Kamara leading the team with a 33% rush share and an 18% target share in his first game back is just wild. It’s got to have everyone questioning if you can even flex Etienne right now.
Etienne’s Touches Are Disappearing, But Not All Hope Is Lost?
Here’s the frustrating part: Kamara’s 14 touches only netted a measly 22 yards. That’s about as inefficient as it gets, which gives us a tiny shred of hope this isn’t the new normal. Etienne still out-snapped Kamara, leading the Saints running backs in snap share (53.1%) and route share (33.3%). On the bright side, he is still the guy on the field most, and he’s still in the best position to catch the ball. But let’s be real, how many must-start running backs are playing only half the snaps and running a third of the routes? This split makes Etienne an extremely borderline RB2 for Week 3. We’re all just crossing our fingers that Kamara’s usage shrinks because, if not, Etienne has very few ways to avoid being a total bust this season.
The League’s RB Room Is a MASH Unit, But One Guy is Dominating
It’s not just Etienne dealing with headaches; the waiver wire is going to be a brutal scene for Week 3. Saquon Barkley left Week 2 with a stinger, and we’re still waiting on those test results. J.K. Dobbins exited with a hamstring injury, but the team sounds optimistic he might be good to go. Jadarian Price also went down with a chest injury, but X-rays were negative, so he could play. That’s a whole lot of “coulds” and “maybes,” making waiver decisions on guys like Tank Bigsby, Jonah Coleman, and Emanuel Wilson super risky. Speaking of Wilson, he played a massive 78% of offensive snaps after Price left last week.
Meanwhile, while everyone else is scrambling, our very own Kenneth Walker is on an absolute tear, on pace for a staggering 476 touches this season! The Chiefs might need to give Emmett Johnson more snaps just to keep up. Walker’s 39.3% avoided tackle rate is second only to Bhayshul Tuten. It’s a true bright spot in a very murky RB landscape. We’ve also got Rhamondre Stevenson’s 36.4% snap share, which would be his second-lowest from last year , are the fumbles finally catching up? And David Montgomery is averaging a worrying 2.7 yards per carry; if he can’t get it going against the Colts, then we’ve got a real reason for concern there.
This Week 3 is going to be a huge one, especially for Etienne. We need to see if his snap and route shares translate to actual production, or if Kamara’s return has truly signaled the end of his fantasy prime. Let’s see what happens this weekend!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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