Travis Hunter was one of the most unique prospects in NFL history when he declared ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft. As a dual-threat player in college who played both cornerback and wide receiver, Hunter presented teams with the opportunity to get a high-end player at two positions.
While it was unclear how much he would play on both sides, Hunter maintained that he planned to play both ways throughout the process, and he got to do so in his rookie year. However, recent news from the Jacksonville Jaguars suggests they plan to play him much more at cornerback this year and limit his offensive snaps.
LeSean McCoy Blasts Jacksonville Jaguars for Limiting Travis Hunter
“They expect him to be a full-time corner, part-time receiver,” said Ian Rapoport and Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network of the Jaguars’ plans for Hunter when he is ready to take the field in 2026.
The Jaguars were high on Hunter coming out of the 2025 NFL Draft, so much so that they made a massive trade to ensure that they were able to get up to select him. To move up from five to two for Hunter and a sixth-round pick, Jacksonville also had to trade its second rounder in 2025, its first-round pick in 2026, and swap fourth-round picks in 2025.
Hunter ranked as the No. 87 wide receiver in PFSN’s Wide Receiver Impact Metric (WRi) in 2026, but didn’t qualify in the Cornerback Impact Metric (CBi) because he didn’t play enough snaps on that side of the ball.
“You’ve never seen anything like Travis Hunter, have you? My thing with Travis Hunter is, I don’t like him just playing one position,” said two-time Super Bowl champion LeSean McCoy. “I just think Travis Hunter is so special that I don’t want to limit his game.”
Hunter was limited to only seven games as a rookie in 2025, after suffering a torn LCL in his right knee during practice. In limited action, he was deployed more on the offensive side of the ball, catching 28 of 45 targets for 298 yards and a touchdown, while registering 15 tackles (11 solo, four assists), and three pass deflections in limited action on defense.
With an offensive guru in Liam Coen, the expectation was that a weapon like Hunter could be a dangerous piece for opposing defenses to try to deal with. In his final game before getting injured, Hunter had his breakout game in the NFL and looked to be becoming an integral piece of the offense, catching 8 of 14 targets for 101 yards and a touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams.
However, in his absence, Jacksonville traded for Jakobi Meyers, and Parker Washington emerged as a reliable target for Trevor Lawrence. Add to that Brian Thomas Jr. and Brenton Strange both being in the offense, and it’s possible the team just thinks they have too many mouths to feed. With the offense being crowded, perhaps they believe he could provide more value to the team on defense, where they have less talent at the position.
“The reason why Jacksonville took him is because we’re getting one player for two,” McCoy added. “Sometimes with these coaches, we overthink things. I hate when a coach drafts a player, watch all this tape on him, watch his his training, how he does, how he do this, how he does that, what he does good, what he does bad [and then] you draft him, and now you want to change everything you’ve seen.”
What made it worth moving such a haul to get Hunter was the ability to play him on both sides of the ball. The decision to play him in only certain offensive packages has led many to question why the team would have given up so much to get him if they aren’t going to use him fully on offense and defense.
Hunter himself pushed back on the report, leaving many to wonder whether he will be able to sway the team into continuing to use him heavily on offense and defense, in hopes of realizing his full potential.
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“Now who told you this?” Hunter asked on social media in response to Rapoport’s tweet.
Hunter is one of the most polarizing players in the sport, due to his unique talent and the attention he has received since his college days at Colorado. His playing time distribution figures to be a major storyline throughout training camp and Preseason, and it will be worth monitoring to see if he can convince the team to play him more heavily on both sides of the ball.
