Kellen Moore’s early-season handling of Travis Etienne Jr. is turning into one of the Saints’ most puzzling storylines.
New Orleans needs the run game to wake up after back-to-back flat showings to open the year, and Etienne is right at the center of it. The Saints paid him like a major piece, but through two games, the usage has looked nothing like that. Instead of being treated like the clear lead back, Etienne has been squeezed into a role that feels far smaller than the contract suggests.
Sunday’s win over the Baltimore Ravens was the latest example. Etienne finished with just 8 carries, and while he had issues on a few tosses, that hardly explains why he never got into a real rushing rhythm. It also marked the second straight week he was held under 10 carries.
The odd part is that Etienne wasn’t invisible in the offense. Against the Lions, he was leaned on more in the passing game.
But once Alvin Kamara returned in Week 1, those receptions shifted back to him, as expected. Kamara is going to be the more used back as a receiver, and that only makes Etienne’s light workload on the ground stand out even more.
Moore’s distribution Sunday made the point even louder. Kamara played 20 snaps and came away with 14 touches, including 9 rushes.
The Saints clearly made a point of getting him involved. That same urgency never showed up for Etienne, and it hasn’t really shown up for two weeks.
There was always an expectation that the two backs would share work. But that was never supposed to look like a true 50/50 arrangement.
Even in the opener, with Kamara out, Etienne still ended up splitting carries evenly with Kendre Miller. That’s why this current setup feels less like circumstance and more like Moore’s preferred approach.
The Saints seemed to have a perfect opening to let Etienne take over the backfield workload, and instead, it never materialized. Through two games, Moore simply hasn’t used him like the back many expected him to be.
There are a couple of ways to explain the limited touches. One is the dropped toss play.
Another is the 21-0 hole the Saints faced against the Lions. But that second explanation doesn’t hold up very well, because the game was only a 7-point difference for the first half, and Etienne still wasn’t featured much as a runner in those first 30 minutes.
Against the Ravens, Kamara had one more carry than Etienne, but he didn’t do enough with those extra opportunities to make Etienne’s reduced role feel justified. If Kamara had been breaking off efficient runs, maybe the missed toss to Etienne would be easier to shrug off.
That wasn’t the case. So the obvious next move would have been to get the lead back more involved.
Instead, that didn’t happen.
That’s the disconnect. Etienne’s contract paid him to be the lead back.
The Saints can absolutely use both backs, but Moore doesn’t seem interested in giving Etienne the kind of clear No. 1 role that contract implied. What was supposed to be a priority acquisition has, for now, become a second thought.
A 60/40 or 70/30 split would have made more sense. At the very least, Etienne should be getting double-digit carries.
If this even distribution keeps going, the questions around whether he was worth the money are only going to get louder. And if his history as part of a split workload is any guide, that answer won’t be pretty.
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