The Hall of Famer certainly got the most out of Travis Hunter with the Colorado Buffaloes .
The Jacksonville Jaguars made the move of the 2025 NFL Draft, sending a significant haul of draft picks to the Cleveland Browns to move up to second and draft Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter .
As such, the Jaguars are tied to Hunter for the foreseeable future, and his success will define whether general manager James Gladstone’s first major move was worth it.
As aggressive as the Jaguars were to go up and get him, they clearly did their homework and liked what they saw on film and in person sufficient to make such an investment in him.
But one notable person says the Jaguars didn’t go quite far enough in their preliminary evaluations of Hunter: his former head coach.
Deion Sanders went on “The Barbershop” show with Garrett Bush , and he said no one from Jacksonville reached out to him to gain any insight or information on Hunter. And it sounds like it struck a nerve with him.
"Even a guy like Travis Hunter, being drafted to Jacksonville, and I've had him for the last three (years)," Deion said. "Don't you think you would want to talk to me to let me know, to ask me, what gets him going and what backs him off and what, like, you wouldn't want to know that?"
To be clear, I think Hunter’s tape and his play on the field speaks for itself. He’s a unique player with a ceiling that’s sky high.
But in that same vein, as he is a unique player, wouldn’t you want to know every single thing about him? As far as any background/inside information about how he handled being a two-way player?
Again, I’m not saying the Jaguars didn’t do their homework. They did, and they liked what they saw. But if they didn’t pick up the phone and at least call Sanders to get his take on Hunter the player and ask questions along the lines of what he’s talking about (what gets him going, backs him off, etc.), then that’s a bit confusing in retrospect.
In any event, phone call or not, getting the most out of Hunter after an injury-shortened decent first season will be a priority for the Jaguars in 2026.
