Travis Hunter sustained a knee injury at practice ahead of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Week 9 game against the Las Vegas Raiders. Unfortunately, the injury was serious enough to require a trip to IR. When might fantasy football managers see the explosive rookie play again?
Travis Hunter Injury Update
Hunter suffered a non-contact knee injury during Thursday’s practice ahead of Week 9. Head coach Liam Coen confirmed the injury on Friday and the rookie was placed on injured reserve.
Initial testing revealed that Hunter’s ACL is intact, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The Jaguars are confident that Hunter did not sustain any serious long-term damage to his knee, per The Athletic’s Mike Silver.
Hunter will miss at least the next four games, making him ineligible to return until Week 13 at the earliest. The team has no timetable set for his return and is evaluating the best course of treatment over the next two weeks.
“We’re currently assessing the injury just to determine the best course of action moving forward for Travis and the team,” Coen said Friday.
When asked if Hunter could potentially return for a playoff run in January, Coen said, “That I don’t know. We’re still assessing. We haven’t gotten all of the information”.
The Jaguars have made clear they have no intention of rushing Hunter back to the field. Given the cautious approach and lack of a definitive timeline, fantasy managers should prepare for an extended absence that could stretch beyond the minimum four-game window.
Parker Washington and Dyami Brown will assume larger roles in the receiving corps alongside Brian Thomas Jr., who is now dealing with an ankle injury of his own.
Hunter Fantasy Outlook
Hunter posted the best game of his young career before the bye week, recording an 8-101-1 stat line on 14 targets in Week 7. He registered career-best numbers in snap share, route share, targets, and receiving yards while securing his first touchdown. The rookie appeared ready for a post-bye surge after that breakout performance.
His momentum has now been derailed by the knee injury. With Brian Thomas Jr. also injured, the Jaguars wide receivers find themselves in a much worse situation than they should be coming out of a bye week. Parker Washington leads a depleted receiving corps.
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ESPN’s Michael DiRocco had reported that Hunter was “going to be a significant player in the offense going forward” and could receive “the WR1 treatment from the Jaguars in the season’s second half”. His offensive snap share had steadily climbed from 53% in Week 4 to 87% in Week 7, demonstrating growing trust from the coaching staff.
Hunter excels in the after-the-catch game, averaging 10.6 yards per reception with an average depth of target of just 7.9 yards. His athletic ability in space is perhaps his greatest weapon and sets him apart from other rookie receivers. That makes the timing of his injury all the more unfortunate.
Hunter is not a must-hold for fantasy managers, given how deep into the season it will be before he can return, if he even does. With a Week 13 return at the earliest and no guarantee he’ll be activated then, most fantasy managers in competitive leagues should move on and use that roster spot for more reliable options during the playoff push.