Jaguars’ Travis Hunter To Start On Offense, Come Off Bench On Defense

Another revelation with the onset of teams’ unofficial depth charts came in Jacksonville, where ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes that rookie No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter has been listed as a starting wide receiver on offense but a backup cornerback on defense. It’s an intriguing development in what has been a closely-watched situation concerning Hunter’s ability to play both ways at the NFL level.

In Colorado last year, Hunter won the Heisman Trophy after playing 753 of a possible 871 (86%) snaps on offense and 776 of a possible 938 (83%) snaps on defense. Hunter did so all while ranking as a top-performing player at both wide receiver and cornerback. In fact, he won both the Fred Biletnikoff Award for the NCAA’s best wide receiver and the Chuck Bednarik Award for the NCAA’s best defensive player.

In the NFL last year, triple-crown wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase played 1,053 of a possible 1,136 (93%) snaps on offense and Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II played 1,054 of a possible 1,233 (85%) snaps on defense. For more realistic comparisons, top rookie wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. played 822 of a possible 1,033 (80%) snaps on offense and Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell — finished second in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting — played 1,158 of a possible 1,320 (88%) snaps on defense.

There are multiple challenges that experts cite as issues that could keep Hunter from continuing to work as a two-way player in the NFL. As noted in the difference of possible snaps counts above, NFL seasons are much longer than college football seasons. Chase’s offense played 265 more snaps than Hunter’s — a 31% increase — and Mitchell’s defense played 382 more snaps than Hunter’s — a 41% increase. That’s a lot of extra snaps for a player to be on the field, even if they have displayed outstanding endurance by playing both ways in college.

It may seem unfair to hold Hunter up to the expectations of award winners and the top rookies from last year, but the only reason Hunter could be a two-way starter in the NFL would be if he is truly starting-caliber on both sides of the ball. If playing on both sides of the ball takes away from his ability to be starting-caliber on either side, it feels as if his value would be better served focusing on one side of the ball.

For much of the draft process, it was believed that most teams viewed Hunter as either a wide receiver or a cornerback, with most slotting him in on defense. That made it seem likely that he may be a starting cornerback who may enter the offense for specialty plays or situations here and there, but the opposite seems to be the case now in Duval. Now, it appears that he will be a starter at wide receiver and rotate in off the bench in the secondary.

It’s hard to say whether the Jaguars are truly entertaining the idea of playing Hunter on both sides of the ball all season, as they have in training camp and the preseason, or if this depth chart is how rookie head coach Liam Coen is breaking it softly to Hunter that his focus is going to be on the offense. We won’t truly know until noon Sunday, when Hunter’s Jaguars host the Panthers and rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, a player Hunter did a good job of defending over two years in college.

It will be interesting to watch so many aspects of Hunter’s use in the NFL this year. How much will he see the field on defense as a backup cornerback to Tyson Campbell and Jarrian Jones? Will the rookie be prominently featured on the offense in a receiving corps alongside Thomas and Dyami Brown? If Jacksonville does play him both ways, will they limit his time on both sides of the ball or will they play him as much he wants to go? Does overuse result in poor play or potential injuries? With so many answers waiting in the near future, Sunday can’t come soon enough.