Jaguars’ Jakobi Meyers extension just sparked a baffling Travis Hunter take

The Jacksonville Jaguars traded for Jakobi Meyers because they needed help at receiver. He transformed their offense right away, so nobody batted an eye when the team's brass rewarded him with a three-year, $60 million contract with $40 million guaranteed.

The deal ensures that Trevor Lawrence and the offense have a trusted target in the middle of the field through 2028. On the other hand, it inadvertently created a bit of speculation. See, around the same time Jacksonville traded for the former North Carolina State Wolfpack, Travis Hunter sustained a knee injury that cut his rookie season short.

Hunter will be back next year, but the Jaguars are winning without him. This begs the question: Did the organization concede that trading up for the former Heisman Trophy winner was a mistake? A Fantasy Bro believes that's the case.

The Jaguars are under scrutiny for trading up for Travis Hunter

Transactions in the NFL tend to invite all kinds of angles. And every now and then, one pops up that makes you go Urgh? the way of Scooby Doo. The day after Jakobi Meyers signed his extension, one such surfaced. Chris Wecht of Fantasy Points on social media wrote that the Travis Hunter draft pick looks worse and worse unless the Jags think Brian Thomas Jr. is bad at football.

Ok, fair. Hunter's two-way skill hadn't fully carried over into the NFL when he suffered the knee injury, but he wasn't a slouch either. He was seemingly beginning to figure things out at receiver and was already holding his own at corner. That he was forced to miss the rest of his rookie campaign is most definitely unfortunate, but rookies (and veterans) suffer injuries all the time. That doesn't mean the pick was a bust.

But when confronted with facts, Wecht just said that no team pays such a high price for a player — two first-round picks — but he was quickly reminded that the Indianapolis Colts just paid exactly that amount to the New York Jets in return for cornerback Sauce Gardner.

Instead of accepting that he was wrong, Wecht moved the goalpost, asking how it's going for Indy. In case you forgot, the original premise was that trading for Hunter was a bad decision, and the argument was that the Jags traded two first-round picks. But even then, that's not even accurate.

The Jaguars swapped the fifth overall selection for the second with the Cleveland Browns. They also gave up a second in 2025 and a first in 2026. It's also worth noting that Jacksonville also got a fourth-rounder in the exchange. It was later used to draft Bhayshul Tuten.

The point is that the Jaguars didn't give up two firsts: It was a first and a second. Granted, Sauce Gardner was a proven talent, but Hunter was seen as a game-altering talent coming out of college after playing offense and defense at a high level.

The Jaguars pay the right price to trade up for Travis Hunter

For the sake of transparency, let's entertain Chris Wetch's argument in good faith. Did the Jaguars pay too much? At the time, Travis Hunter was the highest-rated prospect at both receiver and cornerback. So a first and second to move three spots in the draft doesn't seem exorbitant when you consider that teams routinely pay a premium to move into the top 10 and within the top 10.

It's also worth noting that the Jaguars had a plan in place to develop Hunter, but because he was the first player expected to play two ways full-time in the NFL, they had to consistently make tweaks to his onboarding. Still, he flashed whenever he saw the field, and he should have no trouble picking up where he left off as a rookie.

If by Year 4, Hunter isn't playing at a high level yet, you can go ahead and criticize the trade and call it a waste of resources. For the time being, it should get an "incomplete" grade. Heck, you can even say it doesn't look great right now.

The Jaguars still believe in Travis Hunter even after paying Jakobi Meyers

Here's where things get interesting. With Jakobi Meyers in the mix, where does Travis Hunter fit? The Jags will certainly have flexibility. The easiest choice would be to feature both of them and Brian Thomas Jr. in the offense. However, there are other alternatives.

The Jags could move Hunter to corner full-time. It would allow him to focus on one position, which would in turn help him reach his potential. Another alternative would be to trade Thomas, who mostly runs vertical routes, and give Hunter his role.

In fact, you could make the case that Hunter is a more complete receiver than Thomas, and thus a better fit. If they wanted to feature one, it would probably be Hunter.

Keep in mind that this is just a conjecture, and we won't know Jacksonville's plans until 2026. What we know is that the Jakobi Meyers extension doesn't limit the Jaguars; it gives them options.