All eyes have been on the Jacksonville Jaguars as they take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in their first preseason game of the 2025 season - and it's not because most of the NFL has suddenly began rooting for the AFC South's favorite underdogs. No, the league has been extremely interested to see how the Travis Hunter experiment would turn out, and this preseason game is their first chance to check it out.
Hunter notoriously made it clear that he wanted to continue playing both sides of the ball, as both wide receiver and cornerback, in the NFL. Doing so would be historic - no player has played offense and defense in the modern Super Bowl era. And the Jaguars have now officially made history.
Travis Hunter takes the field
Hunter began the game alongside quarterback Trevor Lawrence, in the limited time the offensive starters were on the field. Both of Jacksonville's offensive drives ended with field goals, and while Hunter didn't have any major explosive plays, he still showed that he is a capable receiver with big things to come.
The starters came off the field after just two drives, but during those, Hunter had two receptions for nine yards.
Travis Hunter makes his first catch of the preseason đź‘€ pic.twitter.com/6pf9WeQpbh
— Kickr Games (@KickrGames) August 9, 2025
In the Steelers' first drive, the Jaguars had their starting defense on the field - while the Steelers sent out their backups. At first, though, Hunter was not on the field, for which he was probably thanking his lucky stars. The Steelers back-up offense annihilated the Jaguars defensive starters, running over them to easily score a touchdown.
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Did Travis Hunter make the difference for the Jaguars?
Thankfully, the second go-around with the defense was significantly better. Hunter didn't have any major plays - in fact, he missed a tackle. But there was also no denying that the defense was much better, forcing the Steelers to punt the ball away.
Dawuane Smoot with the first sack of the night, Everbank Stadium very pleased to have the “Smoooot” cheer back #Jaguars | #DUUUVAL
— Mia O'Brien (@MiaOBrienTV) August 9, 2025
After that, Hunter - along with the rest of the starters - appeared to be done for the night.
It's still far too early to make any kind of pronouncements of how Hunter will do through the rest of the NFL season. But it still looks promising - and no matter what, the Jaguars will forever have a page in the history books, with Hunter having officially played both sides, not just in training camp, but in an NFL game.