Travis Hunter, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, struggled in his debut season for the Jaguars, as he sustained a season-ending knee injury in October. He was placed on injured reserve and underwent surgery nearly two weeks later.
His performances in 2026 will be worth watching, as the Jaguars intend to keep the two-way phenom primarily at cornerback.
Why Skip Bayless Blames the Jaguars for Ruining Travis Hunter’s Rookie Season
Hunter, the NFL’s first two-way player in decades, was the biggest story in the 2025 NFL Draft. While he showed promise as a rookie, the former Heisman Trophy winner will play the cornerback position and take occasional snaps at wide receiver.
NFL pundit Skip Bayless recently spoke on the “The Arena: Gridiron” podcast, where he discussed how the Jaguars “wasted” Hunter’s rookie campaign.
Bayless said, “I can’t believe they wasted his rookie year like that. You just say, you have him, and all of a sudden the quarterback’s going to start thinking twice about, well, I guess I can’t go over there, right? You let him establish himself as cornerback first. and then figure out the rest of it.”
Last season, Hunter recorded 28 receptions for 298 receiving yards and 1 touchdown. While on defense, he made 15 total tackles in 7 games for the Jaguars. He had a relatively quiet rookie campaign due to an unfortunate knee injury and ranked 87th in PFSN’s NFL WR Impact Metrics with a 68.9 Impact score and a D+ grade.
Travis Hunter’s Return Timeline From Injury
Jaguars general manager James Gladstone recently gave an update on the return timeline of the 22-year-old phenom at a pre-draft press conference.
“He’ll be, for all intents and purposes, a limited participant throughout the offseason program with eyes on return to play at full tick in training camp,” Gladstone said.
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Hunter can make a significant impact on defense, and the Jaguars are simply benefiting from his versatile skill set.
