Clemson's Travis Etienne facing weight debate for NFL draft

Travis Etienne entered his senior season weighing 199 pounds, but the two-time ACC Player of the Year showed up at Clemson’s Pro Day last week noticeably bigger.

Etienne said following his workout in front of NFL scouts that he now weighs about 215 pounds. He added weight in order to withstand the hits he will take at the next level.

“It was a big priority,” Etienne said last Thursday. “Playing at 199 in the league, you really won’t thrive at the running back position. You won’t be able to play like that for long. I wanted to get my body right but get it right in the right way.”

Travis Etienne finished his career with 70 rushing touchdowns. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

While Etienne believes that adding weight gives him the best chance to succeed in the pros, not everyone agrees.

Daniel Jeremiah, who is a draft analyst for the NFL Network, said on a conference call last week that if he drafted Etienne, the first thing he would do is have him cut weight.

“I know today he was 215. The first thing he does when I draft him is 208, 209. That’s where you’re parking it,” Jeremiah said. “I don’t really care for the extra bulk. I’d rather just have you be at optimal speed. It’s a speed league. So that’d be something you could correct pretty quickly.”

Despite the added weight, Etienne still ran a 4.41  at Clemson’s Pro Day, which would have been the second fastest time out of running backs at the 2020 NFL combine.

But Jeremiah believes Etienne could be even faster if he drops a few pounds.

“I just don’t think he needs it. I really don’t. I don’t think that five pounds is going to make that much of a difference,” Jeremiah said. “I was talking to a GM this morning. We were talking about this and the conversation was, ‘Look, his speed is his power. If you wanna have a super power as a player, his super power is his speed.’ So to me, as impressive as that low 4.4 was, he played even faster than that. So I’d be just fine with him dropping down.”

Jeremiah believes Etienne should be a late first or early second round pick and could be a difference maker for a team that is one or two pieces away.

The Louisiana native is the ACC’s all-time leading rusher, finishing his career with 4,952 rushing yards and 70 rushing touchdowns. He averaged better than 7.2 yards per carry for his career.

“I’m not trying to make him a 25-carry back. I want him to be as effective as possible. I’m going to do that with a mixture of 12-to-14 carries and hopefully get him four-to-five catches,” Jeremiah said. “So for him to bulk up so he can try to carry some huge load, that’s not really the way the game’s played anymore. We don’t have many of those guys. I want you to be dynamic and explosive, as fast as you can be for those 15 or 16 touches you’re going to get.”