New Orleans will still let the rest of the week play out before it commits to Etienne’s availability for this Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers, but his return to practice was an important first step.

“There’s some potential for (him to play), but we’ll just let the week take its course,” coach Kellen Moore said.

It has been six weeks since Etienne last played, with the Saints’ bye week also coming during his absence. He was eligible to return off injured reserve for last week’s game against the Browns, but New Orleans decided to give him another week before testing him in practice. After he started practicing Wednesday, Saints have 21 days in which to activate Etienne off injured reserve.

New Orleans signed Etienne to a $52 million contract this offseason to add some playmaking to a rushing attack that has stagnated in recent years. Etienne put up modest numbers before his injury, but the Saints have been much worse without him in the lineup.

Though he has missed the last five games, Etienne (128 rushing yards) is only 34 rushing yards behind the team leader, quarterback Tyler Shough (162). That is true even though Etienne only had 30 carries in the first three games.

“When we were rolling early on this season and in training camp, it was hard to stop him,” quarterback Tyler Shough said. “We’ve got to get him those touches and get him back going. I’m excited to have him back.”

Etienne fits what the Saints want to be ideologically. New Orleans has leaned heavily on zone running schemes this season, but has had games in which they’ve skewed more toward man or gap blocking techniques depending on the opponent.

“There’s some explosiveness that Travis has,” Moore said. “He’s a really balanced runner, and his ability to … make that one cut, in particular when you see those zone cut schemes, his ability to get to the backside when needed — he does a really good job of that.”

If Etienne is able to go this week, he’d be joining a recently revamped Saints backfield.

New Orleans shook things up after the Pittsburgh Steelers limited them to their worst rushing performance in a single game since 1999. Coming out of the bye, the Saints fired run game coordinator T.J. Paganetti, claimed running back Audric Estimé off waivers and cut ties with 2023 third-round pick Kendre Miller.

There were some schematic changes, too. New Orleans used more jumbo formations (with six offensive linemen) than it had all season, and it also more widely varied its rushing attempts between man- and zone-blocking schemes.

The early returns were extremely positive. Estimé’s first three runs went for 18, 5 and 9 yards (giving him as many runs of 9 or more yards than Miller had in 57 attempts) on his way to 72 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Estimé was not the only Saints ball-carrier to enjoy a nice day on the ground against Cleveland. Quarterback Tyler Shough added 51 hard-earned yards on 10 carries, and Alvin Kamara (6 carries, 32 yards) averaged a season-best 5.3 yards per carry.

All this also happened against a Cleveland team that currently has the NFL’s sixth-worst rushing defense and has given up more runs of 10-plus yards (38) than anybody but the Las Vegas Raiders.

New Orleans has another struggling run defense on deck in the Carolina Panthers, who are yielding 133.4 yards per game on the ground and have allowed an NFL-high 13 rushing touchdowns. There have been three games this season in which an NFL team has rushed for 250 or more yards, and Carolina’s defense has been on the field for two of them.