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Travis Hunter a big reason why Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Chiefs is on Monday Night Football
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- Travis Hunter a big reason why Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Chiefs is on Monday Night Football
Travis Hunter will be showcased this season, especially when the Jacksonville Jaguars face the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football .
Despite finishing the season with the fifth-worst record (by draft order), Jacksonville was not among the three teams not to receive a prime-time game (Thursday, Sunday or Monday Night Football). The Tennessee Titans , New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Browns each do not have a prime-time game.
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Tennessee picked first, while the Saints and Browns picked behind the Jaguars after finishing with a better record last season.
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So, why would the NFL schedule a Monday Night Football game for Jacksonville a year after they looked uncompetitive in a 47-10 MNF game against the Bills last year?
In part, because of Hunter, NFL executives told members of the media during a post-NFL schedule release conference call.
Travis Hunter plays role in Jaguars landing MNF game vs. Chiefs
Many speculated in the immediate aftermath of Jacksonville's move to acquire Hunter that the franchise would receive a bit of an interest hike due to Hunter's national and global popularity.
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Hunter has more than 500,000 subscribers on YouTube and more than 100,000 followers on Twitch, making him one of the most popular players in the league already.
For the Jaguars, that gave the NFL an extra push to place them in prime time early in the season.
"I think we kind of saw a mix of games coming up across the prime-time schedule. We started to see the Kansas City-Jacksonville game land very frequently on Monday Night Football. We saw it landing fairly early in the season, and we really like that," NFL vice president, broadcast Onnie Bose said Thursday when asked about the league's thought process.
The NFL schedule release date has changed from pre-draft to post-draft in the last couple of years. In 2019, for instance, the NFL schedule was released on April 17, about a week before the 2019 NFL Draft. If the schedule had been released pre-draft, the league may not have anticipated Hunter to in Jacksonville.
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"That is a benefit of the shift of this timeline and the schedule now coming out, really in two, now three weeks after the draft and post-draft, we were seeing that game there. And we really liked the idea of, you know, a few games under his belt and getting a prime-time appearance against the Chiefs," Bose explained.
Hunter will have played in four games ahead of the team's Week 5 matchup against the Chiefs. Jacksonville's early philosophy with Hunter's play-time percentage when it comes to offense and defense remains to be seen, but the team is allowing him to learn both sides of the football and anticipates him playing that way throughout the year.
The Jaguars began that process earlier this month during rookie minicamp when Hunter stuck to the offensive side of the ball, giving him a chance to first learn the NFL nuances that come with playing receiver. He will play on the defensive side of the football when the team begins Organized Team Activities next week.
Hunter has a chance to become the first player since Chuck Bednarik to play full-time on both sides of the ball. Bednarik played center and linebacker for the Eagles from 1949 to 1962.
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It's been so long since a player has done it that Hunter, who was born in 2003, won the Chuck Bednarik Award, given to the nation's top defender, last year.
Now, he has a chance to become one of the most popular players in football and he's already helped — at least in part — land Jacksonville, and himself, a moment in the spotlight.
"So, there absolutely was a role in terms of something that we were seeing in the overall jigsaw puzzle and liked where it was landing and felt good about it. It was not necessarily a determinant or driving factor. But, as we look at the overall schedule, it is a game we point to and feel like that's a great showcase opportunity, both for Travis himself and the Jaguars," Bose said.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 or on Bluesky @ Demetrius .
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Travis Hunter factored in landing Jaguars Monday Night game vs. Chiefs
