Travis Hunter's impressive outing in Jaguars win just made critics look silly

When the Jacksonville Jaguars traded up in the draft to select the Heisman Trophy winner, critics were quick to chirp about his desire to play both sides of the ball. We've added our own thoughts on the subject—though at Black and Teal, we tend to acknowledge that it takes any rookie time to adjust to the NFL.

That said, Hunter may be adjusting sooner than we expect. He flashed with the ball in his hands during an otherwise brutally inefficient Jaguars' offense in their Week 3 17-10 slogging victory against the Houston Texans. On the other side, he played solid, though not elite, defense.

Related: 3 winners (and 2 losers...kind of) for Jaguars in Week 3 win vs. Texans

Travis Hunter entered Week 3 under a microscope

There has been no shortage of talking heads looking to see the Jags stick Hunter on either offense or defense and then forget about him despite his and the team's determination for him to play both. Prior to the Week 3 win, Dianna Russini shared her thoughts.

"It’s evident the Jaguars are still working on defining his role," she writes. "He saw an uptick in snaps on both sides of the ball in Week 2 — 42 on offense and 30 on defense. Hunter is an undeniably talented player with a rare skill set. Right now, though, his usage is very much a work in progress, which highlights just how demanding playing both ways can be at the NFL level."

And she's not wrong. Hunter is looking to do something no one has done before—at least, not at the level he's expected to do it. When she wrote those words, it'd only been two weeks into the season, not nearly enough to come to a consensus on Hunter's future. Still, she added this head-scratching final analysis:

"Jaguars new general manager James Gladstone clearly wanted to make a splash with Hunter. But could the Jaguars be better off by focusing on getting early returns on their investment rather than trying to change the game with a two-way phenom?" Russini said.

Hunter is quickly proving that the cornerns are unfounded.

Related: Dyami Brown injury sends Jaguars into full-blown crisis mode

Travis Hunter shows flashes as he continues to adjust to the NFL

Fantasy players will continue to fuss at the lack of stats like newborns looking for their sippy cup, but rookie wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter is giving Jaguars fans glimpses of what he might look like once he's adjusted to the speed of the NFL. And these glimpses are coming on both sides of the ball as he locked down Texans' wide receiver Christian Kirk and made defenders miss on a 21-yard scamper for a critical first down.

For now, yes, these are just glimpses. But with the entire Jaguars receiving room seeming to struggle, we're also only seeing Brian Thomas Jr. show up in flashes. The entire team is adjusting to a new offense and a new system. Once quarterback Trevor Lawrence locks in (okay, if he locks in), I expect to see many more plays like these.

Final thoughts

Rookie wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter may not yet look like the stud he was projected to be, but few rookies do after only three weeks. Still, he's shown flashes of his playmaking abilities and hasn't balked at pushing his snap count for two weeks now. I don't know when it'll happen, but I expect Hunter to be a serious threat on offense and a lockdown corner on defense by the end of the season.

Here are other Jaguars stories you may also like: