RB Travis Dye looks to ‘make the most out of’ NFL opportunity with the Jets
Travis Dye has dealt with adversity during his life and football career. Getting through those difficulties is likely why the running back has been successful throughout high school and college and now has ended up on an NFL roster. “I’ m very blessed to have this opportunity,” Dye told the Daily News.“ I want to make the most out of it.
Travis Dye has dealt with adversity during his life and football career.
Getting through those difficulties is likely why the running back has been successful throughout high school and college and now has ended up on an NFL roster.
On Friday, the Jets signed Dye as an undrafted free agent as he took part in the team’s rookie minicamp hoping to land a spot on the main roster.
“I’m very blessed to have this opportunity,” Dye told the Daily News. “I want to make the most out of it.
“This is a great place, I love this place, I love these facilities, I love the coaches. I just want to run with it.
“Coach [Robert] Saleh is a great dude, great coach. Coach [Taylor] Embree, he’s a great dude as well, I’ve known him for a very long time. The coaches have been great and I love it here.”
As the youngest of five children, Dye had to fight for everything he received, on and off the football field. Dye comes from a football family as his brothers, Tony and Troy, both played in the NFL as Troy is currently a linebacker on the Vikings roster.
Despite his size at 5-10, 200 pounds, Dye has made an impact no matter where he’s been since his high school days at Norco in California. There, he was the 2017 All-CIF Division 2 and Big VIII League Offensive Player of the Year as a senior as Dye rushed for 2,383 yards on 255 carries (9.3 avg) with 34 touchdowns.
Dye committed to Oregon as a three-star recruit, as he was rated the lowest running back in the Ducks’ 2017 class. However, that didn’t keep Dye off the field, as he rushed for 739 yards and four touchdowns as a freshman as he split time in Oregon’s backfield with CJ Verdell. After sharing time with Verdell also during his sophomore and junior seasons, Dye finally got his opportunity to be the lead running back in the Ducks offense following Verdell’s season-ending leg injury.
In 2021, Dye was one of the best running backs in the Pac-12. He registered 1,271 yards and 16 touchdowns while averaging six yards per carry as Dye earned AP All-Pac-12 second-team honors. Dye also led Oregon in receptions for 402 yards and two receiving touchdowns as he helped Oregon to a 10-4 record and appearance in the Pac-12 Championship before losing to Utah.
He had an opportunity to enter the 2022 NFL Draft, but with an extra year of eligibility, Dye decided to leave Oregon and return closer to home at USC after graduating following coach Mario Cristobal’s departure to the Miami Hurricanes.
“It was really tough,” Dye said. “When I was there at Oregon for four years, I considered that my home.
“It was very hard for me to leave my home and go back to my home. It was very tough telling my teammates and the new coaching staff [Dan Lanning] that came in, it wasn’t an easy thing.
“The decision was easy, but the execution was hard.”
Dye joined a USC team expected to compete for a national championship, but they fell a bit short of its goal. The Trojans finished 11-3 and appeared in the Pac-12 Championship as they lost to Utah.
On his way to earning more Pac-12 honors in 2022, an ankle injury last November prematurely ended Dye’s college career as he ran for 884 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 145 carries while also bringing in 21 catches for 202 yards in 10 games.
After rehabbing his ankle injury, Dye returned to the field during USC’s Pro Day in March as he recorded 16 reps on the 225-pound bench press and ran a 4.75 on the 40-yard dash, which was slower than he would have liked.
“The rehab was good,” Dye said. “I had a lot of people behind me in my corner.
“It was a crappy thing how it ended, I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. But it is what it is, it is the sport of football. It is a love, hate relationship with it.
“But it has been good, rehab has been good.”
After going undrafted in the 2023 NFL Draft, Dye will have an opportunity to be the next Jets player to crack the team’s 53-man roster. During rookie minicamp last weekend, Dye and other players participated in 7-on-7 and positional drills. Dye often demonstrated his versatility out of the backfield, catching several passes from the quarterbacks.
“Just another opportunity to come in and compete,” Saleh said about Dye and the other undrafted free agents the Jets signed. “The best form of motivation is competition. We’ve added three really good draft classes since I’ve gotten here.
“Joe [Douglas] has had four of them. Some really good free agents, a lot of additions, so there’s a lot of competition all the way across the board. So, to add athletes, to add good players to really good groups, to add competition, it makes everything better from special teams all the way down.”
The Jets backfield is crowded, but one form of motivation for Dye is a player from that group made the 53-man roster coming out of training camp last year. Zonovan “Bam” Knight initially made the Jets final roster before the start of the regular season. While he did bounce back and forth between the active 53-man roster and the practice squad throughout the year, Knight finally stuck on the Jets roster as he was the team’s best running back late in the season.
Following Breece Hall’s ACL tear, Knight started four games for the Jets, running for 300 yards and a touchdown. That included a 90-yard performance in a 27-22 loss to the Vikings last December.
Dye’s most significant role could come on special teams, where he had experience at Oregon as he averaged 21.2 yards per kick return for the Ducks.
“It definitely makes me look forward to something,” Dye said. “I know Bam is a great running back. Just going onto his coattails and learning what he has done and his past and applying that to my game, it is going to be really important.”
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