The Jacksonville Jaguars had their first day of training camp, and before it even started, all eyes were on running back Bhayshul Tuten. With Travis Etienne having left in free agency, Tuten is the presumed RB1, but he has competition in LeQuint Allen and Chris Rodriguez, particularly the latter. What will happen in the Jaguars running back room has been one of the biggest storylines
surrounding training camp.Tuten had an immediate leg up over Rodriguez, who suffered an offseason foot injury and had to undergo surgery, forcing him to miss out on minicamp and OTAs. While Rodriguez has fully recovered, he is being eased back, giving Tuten an early opportunity to prove what he's got. And judging by initial reports from training camp, he didn't
waste that chance.
SI.com's John Shipley reported that Tuten not only impressed today at practice, but was the strongest offensive player, period.
"[T]uten got the bulk of the first-team reps with the offense, just like he did during the offseason program. In fact, Tuten was frankly the most impressive offensive player of the entire day considering the sputtering moments the unit had. While other players had some down moments, Tuten produced several big runs and showed the same exciting traits that made him look like an ascending player this spring."
Tuten has put in impressive performances throughout the offseason, and has already been named a potential breakout player for 2026. During his rookie season, Tuten similarly played well enough in training camp that the Jaguars felt comfortable letting Tank Bigsby go, with Tuten taking over at RB2. While Etienne took the majority of snaps on offense, he did well enough nonetheless, gaining 83 carries for 307 yards and five touchdowns with his limited snaps.
Rodriguez didn't have the chance in this practice to truly compete with Tuten, so as training camp progresses, things may change. Ultimately, however, offseason reports insinuate that who gets named RB1 may not matter; the Jaguars are seemingly looking to take a committee approach to the backfield, with each running back receiving regular snaps and contributing according to their individual strengths. Regardless, it seems clear that big things can be expected from Tuten this season.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Bhayshul Tuten makes strong opening statement at Jaguars camp
