As Jeremiyah Love Cashes In, Jaguars Face Hard Truths About Building Around Travis Etienne in 2026 and Beyond

Well now, let me tell you something about football, because the 2026 NFL Draft just taught all of us a mighty important lesson, and I want to make sure Jacksonville Jaguars fans are paying attention. When Jeremiyah Love got his payday from whichever team decided to invest premium draft capital into a running back, it wasn't just another transaction in the draft pool. It was a message being sent loud and clear about how the modern NFL values certain positions, and for the Jaguars organization, it's a message they better be listening to with both ears wide open.

You see, in this league, you can't build a championship team by accident. You build it through smart decisions, through understanding what your roster needs are, and through having the courage to double down on what works while being willing to change course when something isn't working. The Jaguars have Travis Etienne, and Travis Etienne is a legitimate talent, a guy who can line up in the backfield and make things happen in ways that get fans like me out of our seats. But the question that Jacksonville needs to be asking itself, right now, in the middle of this offseason evaluation period, is whether the running back position is where they want to spend their most valuable resources going forward.

Look, I'm going to be honest with you here. I grew up watching Earl Campbell in Houston, and later I watched Barry Sanders do things in Detroit that seemed to defy the laws of physics. I've seen Tony Dorsett, Walter Payton, and Emmitt Smith carry entire franchises on their backs in ways that made you believe one man could will his team to victory. But that was then, and this is now, and the game has changed fundamentally. The NFL has evolved into a passing league where the quarterback is king, where wide receivers and tight ends dictate the flow of the offense, and where running backs, even the great ones, are increasingly viewed as complementary pieces rather than foundational cornerstones.

The fact that Jeremiyah Love got paid big money in this draft, well, that tells you something important. It tells you that somewhere, some team believes that investing in the running back position at a premium level is the right move for their organization. Maybe they're right. Maybe they're building around an elite quarterback who needs a bruising back to lean on in crucial moments. Maybe they're trying to establish an identity of smash-mouth football that mirrors the great teams of yesteryear. But for Jacksonville, with Trevor Lawrence still developing as a quarterback, with questions still lingering about whether he can be a top tier franchise quarterback, the priorities need to be different.

Think about the teams that won Super Bowls in recent memory. The Kansas City Chiefs won with Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones, with elite wide receivers, with defensive wizardry. The San Francisco 49ers made Super Bowl appearances with a strong offensive line, great receivers, and a dominant defense. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won with Tom Brady, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin. Yes, all of these teams had running backs, but none of them won because their running backs were the centerpiece of the roster. The running back was the supporting actor, not the star of the show.

For the Jaguars, as they sit here looking at the 2026 draft season and thinking about their future, the lesson from Love's contract situation should be crystal clear. You cannot build your Super Bowl team around the running back position. It just doesn't work in today's game. What you can do is make sure you have an elite running back like Travis Etienne, work him into your offense in ways that maximize his value, and then use your real estate in the draft and your salary cap dollars to build an offense around a quarterback who can win games through the air.

Now, here's where this gets interesting for Jacksonville fans because it starts touching on the real decisions the front office is going to have to make. If you're going to have Trevor Lawrence as your franchise quarterback, you need to give him every possible tool to succeed. You need to give him receivers who can separate, tight ends who can move around the field, offensive linemen who can protect him, and yes, a running back who can take some pressure off by being a legitimate rushing threat. But the order of those priorities matters tremendously.

The Rams situation that's been swirling around is instructive here too. Matthew McVay has spent a lot of time building a certain kind of team, establishing a certain vision, and when a front office makes moves that go against that vision, well, that's when you get tension between the coaching staff and the front office. For Jacksonville, you need to make sure that Doug Pederson, or whoever is leading the charge offensively, is getting the pieces he needs to succeed, but not the pieces that take away from the foundational elements of building a championship roster.

Travis Etienne is a wonderful player. I'm not here to bury the man or diminish what he brings to the table. When he gets the football in space, when he's running routes out of the backfield, when he's involved in the passing game, he's absolutely a valuable piece of this offense. But he shouldn't be the reason the Jaguars are having internal debates about draft strategy or salary cap allocation. He's the bonus, not the foundation.

What Jacksonville needs to understand, looking at Love's market value and what teams are willing to pay for premium running back talent, is that the Jaguars already have their guy. You don't need to go back to the well at that position with high draft picks or with big money in free agency. What you need to do is make sure you're using those resources on the quarterback, on the receiving corps, on the offensive line, and on defensive playmakers who can give you a chance to win football games.

This is the moment for the Jaguars to take a step back and ask themselves some hard questions about what kind of team they're trying to build. Are you trying to build around a dominant running back in an era where running backs don't win championships anymore? Or are you trying to build around a quarterback who can throw the football all over the field, coupled with a strong supporting cast, and a running back like Etienne who fits into that puzzle?

For Jacksonville fans, this should matter tremendously because it affects everything about the direction of your franchise for the next several years. It affects which draft picks are used for what positions. It affects how much money is spent on which players. It affects the entire identity of the team going forward. The lesson from Jeremiyah Love cashing in is simple: running backs get paid, sure, but they shouldn't be the reason you're building your franchise. Make sure your Jaguars leadership understands that difference, because getting it wrong will cost you years of competitive football.