Key details about Travis Hunter's onboarding prove Jaguars have defined vision

One of the biggest questions that arose when the Jacksonville Jaguars traded up to select Travis Hunter second overall was how they were going to develop him. This was understandable when you take into account that he played wide receiver and cornerback full-time at Colorado. Would the Jags prioritize one position over the other, or give the 2024 Heisman Trophy an equal number of reps on both sides? At the time, general manager James Gladstone shared details about the process.

After the NFL Draft, Gladstone said that Hunter's onboarding process would start on offense and would progressively see an uptick in reps on defense. But that doesn't mean that the team sees him as more of a receiver than a cornerback. The first-year general manager said as much during a recent exchange on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

"The windows for development in the NFL, they are few and far between. Right, the offseason program is where it exists in its healthiest state," Gladstone said. "Our understanding is that Travis is most naturally comfortable, most naturally in tune on the defensive side of the ball. We wanted to load him offensively throughout this window to ensure that by the time we got to training camp, we had a runway built up on that side, because there's so much more nuance, so much more adjustments in real time on the offensive side of the ball that would require a lot more learning."

Gladstone continued, "So with this phase of the process sort of being rooted through that lens, that's why we wanted to put the emphasis on O [offense], knowing that we would then trickle in the defensive participation a little bit more towards the back end of the offseason program. And really, as we get into training camp, I do think there's a little bit of a misconception in that it's wide receiver, first, corner, second. As much as it is the learning methodology of wide receiver through this phase and then continuing to trickle in more defense, since that is his primary background."

Hunter began to attend defensive meetings from day one, but one reason he began to get reps at cornerback at mandatory minicamp was that he learns better in walkthroughs, according to head coach Liam Coen.

The Jaguars have a clear plan for Travis Hunter the WR/CB

It's refreshing to see that the Jaguars have a plan for Travis Hunter. But more importantly, they're flexible about it and willing to make adjustments. For instance, they could have waited until training camp to start giving him time on defense, but they saw that he was ready, so they didn't wait any longer.

Something similar will happen once the regular season starts. The coaching staff will have an idea of how much playing time he'll get on both sides of the ball but will make an adjustment as the year progresses.

It's also worth noting that Hunter may not play two ways full-time as a rookie because of how stacked the Jags are at both wide receiver and cornerback. This doesn't mean that he won't have a featured role, but rather that they will balance his workload to get the most out of him.

Ultimately, the Jaguars will want to see Hunter on the field as much a possible but don't want to be reckless about it. That's why they had a defined plan from the moment they drafted him.

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