After drafting Travis Hunter second overall in 2025, the Jacksonville Jaguars came up with a plan to ensure he would play two ways full-time in the NFL. Surprisingly, they never reached out to Deion Sanders, his coach at Colorado.
On paper, this seemed like a baffling decision, as Sanders was able to maximize Hunter's talent. On the other hand, the Jags know there's a day-and-night difference in the scheming at the college and NFL levels, so they chose to design their own onboarding plan for the former Heisman Trophy winner.
This didn't sit well with Sanders, who has made it clear that he would have wanted Jacksonville to reach out to him about Hunter. Based on his latest comments, he still resents the franchise's decision not to consult with him.
Deion Sanders reveals how the Jaguars can get the most out of Travis Hunter
DJ Siddiqi of Covers had an exclusive sitdown with Deion Sanders. They touched on many topics, and the subject of Travis Hunter came up. Prime Time states that the Jaguars won't contact him, but he strongly believes that the former Heisman Trophy winner can unlock his true potential by playing two ways in the NFL.
"They're not going to ask me, 'I thank God that you're asking me'. The kid won the Heisman Trophy playing both sides of the ball," Sanders told Siddiqi. "That's all I gotta say on that."
Sanders is stating the obvious. The Jaguars can get more out of Hunter if he plays receiver and cornerback, but that's precisely what they plan to do next season, even though a knee injury brought his rookie season to an abrupt end.
While general manager James Gladstone stated that Hunter will see an uptick in playing time on defense, he will still line up at receiver because Jacksonville isn't giving up on the two-way.
Hunter's recovery is going well, and he's expected to be cleared by training camp. Having seen what works and doesn't work in his development, the coaching staff will know how to manage his workload once he returns.
Circling back to Sanders' comments, it's telling that he chose to lead with the fact that the Jaguars won't ask for his advice. This is just a conjecture, but it appears that he's bitter that he didn't have a say in how to bring Hunter along.
This makes sense when you take into account that Sanders has publicly stated on more than one occasion that the Jaguars have never contacted him.
The Jaguars don't need Deion Sanders to get the most out of Travis Hunter
Keep in mind that Deion Sanders doesn't hold the secret recipe to develop a two-way player. Sure, he oversaw Travis Hunter's growth, so getting in touch with him could have helped the Jaguars tweak his onboarding.
On the other hand, Sanders' approach to the whole situation is perhaps why Jacksonville decided not to ask him altogether. Think about it, he's blasting the team for not reaching out to him. It's fair to assume that he might have openly criticized their process, so the Jaguars chose not to deal with him.
The truth is that the Jaguars aren't just randomly throwing darts at a board. They have an idea of how to get the most out of Travis Hunter and don't need outsiders to tell them what to do.
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