The Jacksonville Jaguars will need to fortify their roster in the NFL Draft if they want to repeat as AFC Champions and make the playoffs in 2026. Having Travis Hunter back at full strength would also help.
Hunter flashed potential as a rookie and was seemingly hitting his stride before a knee injury brought his season to an abrupt end. He's been focused on his recovery, and general manager James Gladstone just revealed that the former Colorado Buffalo should be at full strength by training camp. However, his role won't be the same he had last year, based on a recent scoop.
The Jaguars will use Travis Hunter as a full-time corner, part-time receiver
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media stated that Travis Hunter will see his role change next season, pointing out that the Jaguars plan to use him as a full-time cornerback and part-time receiver.
"Yeah, we'll start talking about the health part of it. It does seem like Travis Hunter is doing exceptionally well from that LCL tear: he has been running, he is doing well," Rapoport said on The Insiders show. "He's not going to be, as they mentioned, a full participant in OTAs, but they really do believe he will be full by training camp."
Rapoport continued, "But when he comes back, and this is something that our Cam Wolf has told us over the last several weeks, they expect him to be a full-time corner, part-time receiver, which, when you talk to teams last year, that probably was where they thought the value wasn't really where they thought the production would lie. So maybe this coming year, we get the player that they drafted they traded up for last year. Because of that trade, Judy, they also don't have a first round. If they're going to improve the team, it's going to be 56 overall."
"What really stuck out to me this offseason about the Jaguars, there was no desperation. They barely added guys. They were more of a collect comp pick mode. Let Travis Etienne go. Let some of their guys go. Let other people pay for them. Collect comp pick mode. That says to me, they believe one, they're already good enough to start planning for the future. And two, they don't need to go get anything set up really, really well for them draft-wise, because they can just."
The Jaguars gave up a 2025 second-round pick and a 2026 first-round selection to move up three spots to select Hunter second overall last year. At the time, general manager James Gladstone said that they couldn't pass up the chance to add a sports-altering talent, noting that the team's brass had an onboarding process to ensure he could play two ways full-time at the NFL.
But then, the regular season came, and Hunter mostly saw playing time at receiver. He ended up logging 67 percent of the team's snaps on offense and just 36 percent on defense. But earlier this year, Gladstone revealed that the former Heisman Trophy winner would play on defense full-time because of roster needs.
The Jaguars now know how to get the most out of Travis Hunter
As noted before, the Jaguars have stated several points throughout the offseason that Travis Hunter will play corner full-time next season. Thus, Ian Rapoport's update isn't particularly surprising. If anything, it confirms that Jacksonville has a defined plan for No. 12.
While it would be great to see Hunter play offense and defense, the truth is that it's not sustainable at the NFL level. And after one year, the Jags have a better idea of how much they can put on his plate. This doesn't mean that they'll limit to one side but rather that they now know how much they can put on his plate without hindering his performance.
The truth is that as long as Travis Hunter makes game-changing plays for the Jaguars and helps them win games, it won't matter what role he has.