Every summer I tell myself I’m going to enter draft season like a responsible adult. I’ll have tiers. I’ll hydrate. I’ll label my draft sheets with something more professional than “please no more backfield diarrhea.” Then I walk into the running back stable, see one horse with shiny hair and a name-brand saddle, and immediately start pawing at my wallet like a raccoon who just discovered Venmo.
The stable guy says, “This here is Travis Etienne. Strong animal. Catches passes. Has carried fantasy teams before. Only costs around pick 29 right now.”
Pick 29? For that price I expect the horse to do my taxes and personally apologize for every third-round RB who has ever turned my draft room into a crime scene. That’s the Travis Etienne ADP problem in one sentence: good player, itchy price. Meanwhile, four stalls over, there’s a pack of discount donkeys chewing through extension cords and staring at me like they know where the bodies are buried.
So today’s question: do we pay for the horse, or settle for the donkey stable?
Let’s be clear before the Etienne family sends a cease-and-desist written in hoofprints: I’m not saying Travis Etienne is bad. Last year in Jacksonville he played 17 games, handled 260 carries, caught 36 passes, totaled 1,399 yards from scrimmage, and scored 13 touchdowns. In half-PPR, he gave you 13.9 points per game. That’s a real fantasy running back with a real path to another RB2 season.
But price matters. Etienne is sitting around pick 29 as the RB15 in FantasyPros ADP. The bull case is simple: New Orleans paid him like a lead back, gives him another big workload, he catches passes, and volume wins. The problem is he’s not walking into an empty barn if Alvin Kamara remains part of the picture. Kamara knows where the snacks are hidden in that offense, and old Saints habits don’t always die just because a new horse shows up wearing a Clemson necklace. Then there’s the per-touch stuff: outside the top 30 in explosive run rate, missed tackle rate, and yards after contact per attempt. Maybe volume covers all that. But at pick 29, you’re paying as if the workload is clean, the offense cooperates, and the efficiency blemishes are just barn dust.
That’s where my hooves start backing out of the stall.
Javonte Williams: the discount horse wearing a fake mustache
If you want the cleanest head-to-head challenge, start with Javonte Williams. His ADP is around pick 36 right now, only seven picks after Etienne, so this isn’t dumpster-diving behind the draft room Arby’s. He’s more like a horse wearing a fake mustache and telling the IRS he’s livestock-adjacent.
But the argument is strong. Javonte averaged 14.1 half-PPR points per game last year, slightly ahead of Etienne’s 13.9. He ran for 1,201 yards, scored 13 total touchdowns, and ranked third in yards after contact per attempt among qualifying backs. His workload also looks cleaner than Etienne’s new-Saints math, at least until Dallas does something rude and ruins my little donkey mood board. I prefer Javonte at equal cost. At a seven-pick discount, I’m checking every pocket in my donkey cargo shorts for loose change and clicking Javonte before the stable guy finishes his sales pitch.
David Montgomery: the actual donkey
David Montgomery is where the stable stops pretending it has standards. He’s not going to win a swimsuit competition unless the judges are all offensive line coaches and one confused county fair livestock judge. But he’s sitting around pick 50, about 21 picks cheaper than Etienne, and the 2026 case is beautifully boring: Houston volume.
Houston sure seems to have brought Montgomery in as the lead back. Last year’s fantasy output wasn’t pretty, 9.1 half-PPR points per game, because his Detroit role faded late. That’s the skunk smell. We don’t ignore skunk smell. We open a window, light a candle, and check the depth chart before making eye contact again. Woody Marks can still make this annoying if August reports turn into real snaps, so keep one hoof near the camp-news panic button. But if Montgomery holds the lead role, he doesn’t need to be sexy. He just needs to pull the wagon.
Bhayshul Tuten: the goblin in Etienne’s old stall
Now we arrive at my favorite structural donkey: Bhayshul Tuten. Etienne leaves Jacksonville, and suddenly, if Tuten wins the summer, there’s a suspicious little goblin chewing through the rope in his old stall. Tuten is around pick 61 in FantasyPros ADP, roughly 32 picks after Etienne, and that gap matters.
The 2025 fantasy line doesn’t sell it by itself: 83 carries, 307 rushing yards, 5.6 half-PPR points per game. The talent and vacancy case are still interesting, but this isn’t a coronation. Chris Rodriguez is a real lead-back competitor, and the Jaguars can still turn this into a committee if nobody kicks the stall door off its hinges. Tuten’s case is that the talent can eventually force the split his way: last year he ranked fifth in rushing success rate, 11th in missed tackle rate, and 17th in yards after contact per attempt among qualifying backs. Don’t make him your only RB2 plan. But as part of the stable, he’s exactly the kind of donkey I want: cheaper, explosive enough to matter, and ugly enough that the room may let him stand there unattended.
Cam Skattebo: farm equipment with a medical chart
Cam Skattebo isn’t a donkey. He’s a cinder block with legs. Possibly farm equipment. Maybe a small-town parade float that gained sentience and started demanding goal-line carries. I don’t want to be normal about Cam Skattebo. Normal people have retirement accounts and clean car cupholders. I have a browser tab open to Skattebo clips and a therapist asking why I keep whispering “volume” to a tractor.
Before the injury ended the fun, he was a problem. Across eight games, he averaged 14.5 half-PPR points, best of this group. From Weeks 2-7, he averaged 19.5 touches and 96.3 total yards as a workhorse, with strong tackle-breaking and receiving-efficiency marks.
The medical chart is the wet blanket. Skattebo suffered a gruesome Week 8 ankle/fibula injury, with reports noting a dislocated ankle, fractured fibula, and ruptured ligament, and the efficiency may not be the same for part or all of 2026. The good news, as of June 9, is that reports already had him taking 11-on-11 reps, so this isn’t a coffin with cleats. At pick 43, he isn’t free enough to click with your eyes closed. Drafting him should come with a tiny liability waiver: may cause joy, nausea, weekly questionable tags, and noises no medical professional can identify. But if your roster build can handle volatility, Skattebo has the most violent fantasy ceiling in the discount group. He’s not a safe donkey, not a clean horse, but farm equipment with a medical chart and a dream. And yes, I’m in danger of naming the farm equipment and inviting it to Thanksgiving.
The verdict
My tiny donkey brain keeps circling back to this: Etienne can help you, but at pick 29 he’s asking for tuxedo money while the rest of the barn is still serving beers out of a cooler. I’m not quitting Etienne. I’m refusing to pay the cover charge. If he falls into the late fourth or early fifth, the workload and receiving case become much more appetizing. At his current cost, I’d rather build from the discount RB stable.
If I want the closest Etienne alternative, I take Javonte Williams. If I want the true donkey discount and projected volume, I take David Montgomery. If I want the best narrative upside from Etienne’s old Jacksonville opportunity, I take Bhayshul Tuten. If I want to invite chaos into my living room and let it chew on the good furniture, I take Cam Skattebo, then apologize to the furniture for not warning it sooner. The trick isn’t pretending one discounted donkey is safer than Etienne. The trick is using Etienne’s price tag to buy one useful back plus another bite at upside. Two ugly animals can beat one expensive horse if you hitch the wagon correctly.
The goal isn’t to be allergic to good players. The goal is to stop paying full horse price when cheaper animals can still carry your drunk fantasy carcass home. Sometimes the majestic stallion is worth it. Sometimes the donkey bites the salesman, drags your roster into the playoffs, and leaves one tiny hoofprint on your heart.
Choose wisely, hydrate aggressively, and never trust a draft-room stable guy wearing a velvet vest.
