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Travis Hunter needs to play more defense. Here's how Jacksonville Jaguars should do it
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- Travis Hunter needs to play more defense. Here's how Jacksonville Jaguars should do it
This Travis Hunter Experiment is going to be an amusement park ride. Twisty turns, daring dips and challenging climbs.
The Jacksonville Jaguars understood this new world — deploying Hunter as a two-way player — when they traded a package that included a 2026 first-round pick to Cleveland to draft Hunter second overall in April .
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Maximizing Hunter's skills as a play-making receiver and play-stopping cornerback wasn't going to be flip-switch simple.
Two games in, is The Plan working? Is Hunter making an impact on either side entering Sunday's game against the Houston Texans ? Is splitting time, which limits practice field time at either position, stunting his development?
It can be argued he should have two touchdown catches — quarterback Trevor Lawrence underthrew him on a downfield route against Carolina (interception) and underthrew him under pressure in the end zone at Cincinnati (interception). On defense, Hunter played a prominent role against the Bengals and was called for two could-have-gone-either-way coverage penalties.
Hunter has played 84 snaps on offense and 49 on defense. He played a combined 85 snaps (42 offense/43 defense) against Cincinnati, suggesting the goal of 100 plays might be doable.
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"The way he prepared (last week), the way he practiced was exactly what we're hunting up," coach Liam Coen said. "(We were) definitely pleased and hopefully it continues to carry over."
The Jaguars don't have a Travis Hunter Problem — no, he's a guy who has already proven to have Energizer bunny-like juice, want-to and zest for the job of being a pro football player.
Call it a Travis Hunter Dilemma or a Travis Hunter Conundrum. How to get unique production out of this unique player?
Splitting Hunter's prep time
Hunter enters Sunday with a team-high nine catches, tied for 39th in the NFL. But his average per catch of 6.1 yards is tied for 131st. His longest reception is 10 yards. The average "air" yards on his catches is 2.2 yards. It's on the Jaguars to unlock more downfield opportunities for him.
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Does Hunter's work week allow him to fine tune his work at receiver? Coen said Hunter's work split is "pretty 50-50," and he puts in extra time before the morning meetings to learn two game plans.
I asked two NFC offensive assistants about the needle the Jaguars are trying to thread — getting Hunter enough practice time to improve as a receiver, which is generally regarded to be the tougher of the two positions to learn as a rookie.
"It's a tough one," the first assistant said when I told him Hunter's workload against Cincinnati. "Offensively, during the week, you can have him focus on the exact plays you would call for him so that makes it a tighter learning experience. My guess is they spend the most time with him (offensively) on third down because that requires the most learning. …
Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) is brought down during the second quarter of an NFL football game between the Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium Sunday September 7, 2025. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]
"He has to be super intentional in a short period of time to practice route techniques (as a receiver) with Lawrence. Learning the defensive plan and studying the opponents has to be very time consuming for him."
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The second assistant said one possible schedule for Hunter during the week is reconfiguring his weight-lifting schedule so he can attend both offensive and defensive meetings.
"Practicing to prepare like a starter on both sides would be nearly impossible," the second assistant coach said. "But if you can get 5-10 snaps a day defensively, that's just as much as a back-up would get."
The second assistant said Hunter is a "good receiver," but can't get by strictly on his endurance and athletic ability.
"It's not Colorado, it's the NFL," the assistant said. "Everyone is good."
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How to best utliize Hunter?
Likely because he missed time in August with an injury, Hunter was weaned into the proceedings against Carolina — 42 snaps on offense and six on defense. I figured that would be the Jaguars' approach early in the season. Get him up to speed on offense and then start adding defensive responsibilities to his plate.
But Jarrian Jones ' first-half back injury against Cincinnati forced Hunter into regular duty as a cornerback and was credited with two tackles and one pass break-up. His fourth-and-5 pass interference penalty extended the Bengals' game-winning drive.
I go back and forth about if Hunter provides more value to the Jaguars' offense or defense.
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On offense, Coen should feel good about tight end Brenton Strange and receivers Parker Washington and Dyami Brown (despite his dropped touchdown last week), but receiver Brian Thomas Jr. needs to snap out of his funk. The Jaguars can afford to use Thomas a role-type receiver.
On defense, Coen should feel good about cornerback Jourdan Lewis , who plays outside on the rare base-package down and in the slot in the nickel and dime packages. But if the Jaguars deem Hunter to be better than perceived top cover man Tyson Campbell , that would change the equation and maybe you take some offensive snaps off Hunter's odometer.
My conclusion: Start to prioritize Hunter on defense (100% of the snaps) and make him a supporting player on offense (20% of the snaps). Against the Bengals, that would have equated to 84 snaps.
The Jaguars' conclusion: They plan on playing Hunter a lot more than that.
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"If anything, we probably have a little bit more encouragement and excitement about where things went last week in terms of being able to handle the workload," Coen said. "Is it a concern? No, it's just something that we definitely need to make sure we're constantly evaluating and being able to tweak if necessary."
O'Halloran can be reached at rohalloran@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: How Jacksonville Jaguars should use Travis Hunter more on defense
