The Jaguars paid a steep price to reel in former Colorado wide receiver/cornerback and 2024 Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter in last April’s draft. In moving up from the fifth pick to No. 2 overall, where they took Hunter, the Jaguars also sent two other 2025 selections – a second-rounder and a fourth-rounder – as well as their 2026 first-rounder to the Browns.
The trade that led Hunter to Jacksonville was a bold strike from Jaguars rookie general manager James Gladstone, especially considering the team was coming off a 4-13 season. Jacksonville orchestrated a dramatic turnaround during a 13-4 campaign in 2025, though. Adding to the surprise, the team pulled off its 180 despite limited contributions from Hunter.
After appearing in each of the Jaguars’ first seven games, Hunter suffered a non-contact knee injury in a late-October practice. The Jaguars immediately placed Hunter on IR. He underwent a season-ending LCL repair a week and a half later. The procedure came with a six-month recovery timeline, which should give Hunter ample room to gear up for what he and the Jags hope will be a more impactful 2026.
Hunter ended his rookie year with twice as many snaps on offense than defense (324 to 162). The 22-year-old shined as a receiver in his last game before the injury, but his production otherwise fell short of expectations. In a lopsided Week 7 loss to the Rams in London, Hunter caught eight passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. That was his lone score during a 28-catch, 298-yard campaign.
On the defensive side, Hunter tallied 15 tackles and three passes defensed. According to Pro-Football-Reference, Hunter allowed just nine completions on 18 targets when he was the nearest defender. Quarterbacks posted a paltry 68.3 passer rating when they threw his way.
A few days after Hunter underwent surgery, head coach Liam Coen said the team would evaluate his future as a two-way player. With the Jags’ season now over after a wild-card round loss to the Bills, they expect Hunter to continue in a two-way role in 2026.
“We still expect him to play on both sides of the ball,” Gladstone said this week (via Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com). “The steps that he was taking by the midpoint of the season really made us feel good about what the back half of the year was going to be on both sides of the ball and what that impact was going to look like being a feature point on offense and an impact player on defense.”
In the wake of Hunter’s injury, Gladstone made a pre-trade deadline splash in acquiring receiver Jakobi Meyers from the Raiders on Nov. 4. The Jags were so impressed with Meyers that they locked him up on a three-year, $60MM extension a month and a half later. With Hunter returning, quarterback Trevor Lawrence will have an even stronger group of receivers to work with as the Jags try to defend their AFC South title and compete for a Super Bowl in 2026. Brian Thomas and Parker Washington are in line to join Hunter and Meyers as the Jags’ top four at the position.
Defensively, almost all of Hunter’s rookie snaps came as a boundary corner. Montaric Brown and Greg Newsome factored heavily into the mix there in 2025, but both players are slated to reach free agency in March. If they depart, it could put Hunter in prime position for more defensive work.
The definition of inanity…
Team was surprisingly very good this year. Too bad they wasted two first round picks on one small player. Could have used those picks to get over the hump. Almost like Sanders was a great salesman or something. Hmmm
Dismissing Hunter already is ridiculous
This. People just love to see others fail. Writing him off is just plain dumb. His last game as WR was 8/100 and a TD. He is a playmaker.
The thing that makes it hard to dismiss him on both sides is how good he was as a corner. I still think Hunter will be exiled to one side of the ball at some point soon, but he played well on defense and played twice as much on offense (indicating that the Jags think they need him there more). The team being good this year does give more leeway to coaching discretion, so whatever pitfalls may arise from this will probably be accepted so long the team has a good record.
Happy to eat those words if he can live up to the draft capital spent. Hint: I’m not hungry.
It’s not dismissing Hunter. It’s how they are using him. A player cannot play both sides of the ball in the NFL.
You can’t help but wonder how much play he sees at WR when he is the 4th best WR on his own team? Take into account how often the Jags integrate the TE and RB in the receiving game and seems like a terrible misuse of resources.
Having said that, it appears they finally got the Head Coach right, great season for the Jags!
Delusional lol
Sorry Jags fans.
This franchise continues to show you that they aren’t actually serious.
Winning the division with a 13-4 record is serious.
You’re nuts if you think he’s done. He’s gonna come back and dominate
It was a freak accident. He played at the time like 10% more total snaps through that part of the season than other players.
Could the injury be from that? Sure but unlikely.
If a small increase of 10% snaps above the mean was indicative of a major injury I think most coaches would be putting players on snap counts similar to pitchers on pitch counts.
Not another one of you clowns who think it didn’t come from playing both sides. Its people like you that are too easy to tell never played a serious sport in life. Of course it contributed. Not only on the field, but the extra reps at practice, and extra hits. Its all wear and tear from over the years, and then getting hit by grown athletes on both sides at the next level. I can’t stand some of you that try to dismiss the extra wear and tear his body accumulated.
Disagreeing with you does not mean someone never played a serious sport. That is a lazy presupposition, not an argument and it makes you look foolish.
Back to Travis Hunter specifically, the workload argument is overstated. He played roughly 10% more snaps than the average player before the injury, not some extreme outlier amount that would indicate a huge wear and tear issue. Plenty of players logged far more snaps, took more reps, and absorbed more contact without getting hurt.
Football injuries are situational. You can argue extra wear and tear might contribute, but asserting it as an obvious cause is short sighted. Next time, perhaps engage the issue rather than trying to attack the person you disagree with.
No we’ve had this conversation in the past, and you’ve clowned yourself there. Everybody’s body is not the same. But when you contribute not only the amount of extra reps he got on both sides of the field, but also tbe extra reps in practice, alongside the reps in the weight room, along woth the dry reps you do before games and mirror work, it all adds up. Football is a physical sport, one extra hit on either side no matter the player could be their last. To say it could be, but then insinuate probably not, just shows your lack of knowledge in the sport, or most sports by that knowledge. I’ve played professional sports, what most people don’t take into consideration is all the practice, extra reps, dry reps and everything else in-between that really takes a toll on your body. And let’s be real, a young man in his early twenties, fresh out of college, and freshly married probably isn’t eating the healthiest in his entirety either. So please, stay out of this one, all you’ve done is show how shortsided you are, and are only looking even more foolish.
You can keep trying to talk down like I don’t understand the game as if you think it means you have the superior argument (you don’t).
I am always happy to debate anything but the fact that you keep reverting back to character attacks jist means you aren’t worth the time and the conversation is circular.
I don’t mute people, but I wouldn’t bother replying because im checking out on this one.
Just refer to the last statement made.
Lol corners don’t really get hit in the NFL
I guess a guy that goes back and forth from IR could be considered a two way player 🙂
Is/can he be elite at either position?
A yes to that question is the only way he justifies the draft status.
An average player whose main value is saving a roster spot doesn’t cut it.
If it’s a yes to both, then, home run.
I agree with you. But it’s not going to be a yes. It’s never happened before and never will. He can certainly play both positions. But not at an elite level. From what I read, he could be an elite receiver without question. DB is so demanding that if it takes away from his effectiveness as a receiver, I’d scrap the idea and bring in a guy that’s going to focusing on that full time.
Offense can wait. Let him just get better on defense. Has to stay healthy.
They need to let him play defense full-time. They have 3 good WR’s on the roster already for the foreseeable future so I don’t see why they would play him offense.