Zonovan Knight and Travis Etienne are expected to lead their team’s backfields on Thursday Night Football. Both young running backs have been up and down throughout the year, but they have come on strong as of late. There’s a lot to analyze to figure out which one has more value ahead of this Jaguars-Jets matchup. Let’s take a deeper look at the Zonovan Knight-Travis Etienne DFS and year long fantasy football player projections ahead of the game to see which running back is the better play.
Zonovan Knight-Travis Etienne DFS & Fantasy Football Ranking
Per our expert DFS rankings, Travis Etienne ($9,600) is projected for more points than Zonovan Knight ($7,100) on DraftKings. However, given their price difference, we have Knight listed as the slightly better value play for Thursday’s game. Looking at our ownership projections, Etienne has an ownership of  56.9% in the utility spot compared to Knight’s 50.5%. As such, neither back offers great leverage and both project to be rostered at nearly the same rates. In our fantasy football rankings, Etienne projects to have 15.65 points, with Knight at 14.08, making the former a better play for Week 16.
If you have to decide between one of the two, you can still get exposure to the other back in the prop betting markets. And better yet, if you’re a new user to BetMGM you can take advantage of this new user offer with a $25 free bet along with a risk-free bet of up to $1,000.
Travis Etienne has taken over the mantle as the lead back in Jacksonville after missing 2021 due to a preseason Lisfranc injury. He has 917 yards and four rushing touchdowns this year, adding 27 receptions for 238 yards. In last week’s OT win over the Dallas Cowboys, Etienne rushed 19 times for 109 yards, his fourth 100-yard rushing performance of the season.
The Jaguars running back now faces the tough task of going up against a Jets defense that ranks No. 9 in the league in fantasy football points allowed to opposing running backs. New York has not allowed a rushing touchdown to a RB in six of their past seven games.
As for the Jets’ backfield, Zonovan Knight has reaped the benefits of a banged up Jets roster. Rookie starter Breece Hall tore his ACL early in the season. Since then, the Jets have been using Knight and Michael Carter ahead of James Robinson, but Knight has taken the role of featured back in recent weeks. He has had double-digit carries in all of his four games, and is going up against a Jaguars team that has allowed at least 100 yards rushing in three straight games.
The weather in this game is also working in Knight and Etienne’s favor. The forecast calls for rain throughout the evening in East Rutherford. With Zonovan Knight and Travis Etienne both likely to get heavy action, there could be more value in Knight at a lower cost, although both project as solid DFS plays.
