It’s been nearly a decade since the New Orleans Saints have fielded a 1,000-yard rusher in a season. The last running back to eclipse the total was Mark Ingram in 2017 when he ran for 1,124 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns.
Since then, star back Alvin Kamara has come close on two separate occasions. In 2020, he gained 932 yards on the ground and in 2024, he amassed 950 rushing yards, coming up just shy after suffering an injury late in the season.
Going into the second season for head coach Kellen Moore, who has built some of the NFL’s most explosive passing attacks in previous stops, there is a good chance that New Orleans sees its first 1,000-yard rusher since Ingram thanks to the offseason acquisition of explosive running back Travis Etienne Jr.
Travis Etienne Jr. will rush for more than 1,000 yards this year
The feat may be a long-lost one for New Orleans, but would be routine for Etienne. The Jennings, La. native has surpassed the 1,000-rushing yard mark in three of his four NFL seasons.
The only exception, 2024, was an odd year wherein he received only 150 carries. It was his lone season not seeing at least 220 and is the only season with the Jacksonville Jaguars in which he did not lead the team in carries.
That’s not likely to be the case in New Orleans. It’s been made abundantly clear that the Saints view Etienne as their lead back, having him take the first spot in the rotation throughout offseason practices ahead of Kamara.
Looking back at Moore’s previous offenses in Philadelphia and Dallas, Eagles back Saquon Backley and Cowboys back Ezekiel Elliott received no fewer than 237 carries, or 13.9 carries per game in 17-game seasons.
Even with the Los Angeles Chargers (2023), which was a far less productive rushing offense, lead back Austin Ekeler saw 179 carries in 14 games, just slightly more than one carry shy of the per game average.
In his two 16-game seasons (2019, 2020) Elliott carried the ball 301 and 244 times, respectively.
Last year, when the Saints took only 126 snaps with a lead, Kamara averaged 11.9 carries per game in his 11 appearances. That number should shoot up in 2026.
Etienne is on pace to change the fabric of the Saints’ rushing attack. In doing so, he’s very likely on his way to another milestone season in New Orleans, the first for the team in nine years.
