Travis Hunter looked like the game-changer Jaguars envisioned in win vs. Bengals

It came down to a fourth-down stance in the fourth quarter, but the Jacksonville Jaguars did enough to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 22-17 in Week 4. Their defense most definitely deserves praise for picking off Joe Burrow twice and making plays at crucial times. Heck, Travis Hunter would have given the Jags another interception, but a puzzling penalty ultimately wiped it out.

Late in the first quarter, Burrow targeted Tee Higgins, but Hunter picked off the pass. Along the way, he put a clown suit on the Bengals' star receiver, pulling off a double move that made him trip. However, a holding penalty by offensive guard Ezra Cleveland wiped out the play.

Nevertheless, Hunter had a strong showing, giving up three passes on six targets for 21 yards. On top of that, he played a team-high 76 defensive snaps. Simply put, No. 12 showed that his jaw-dropping outing against the New England Patriots wasn't a fluke.

The Jaguars got a jaw-dropping performance from Travis Hunter vs. the Bengals

Liam Coen met with the local media after the 22-17 win over Cincinnati. He heaped praise on Travis Hunter, noting that he would have also played offense if the team weren't dealing with injuries at corner.

"He played his ass [expletive] today. I mean, he had the pick that gets called back. I thought he had a ton of PBUs," Coen told reporters (6:52 mark). "He was in there. He had the huge tackle right where he ended up knocking the dude out pretty good. I just thought Trav balled today."

Coen continued, "We knew with Buster being down and Braswell being down, he's going to play every single snap of the game. Had some things for him on offense, but we just didn't feel like putting them out there. Oh man, 'He gets hurt on offense, we're in a real bad spot,' so we didn't want to put ourselves at risk there. And I was very proud of the way Travis played defensively today."

For context, cornerbacks Montaric Brown and Christian Braswell were dealing with injuries and were inactives for the win. The tackle Coen is talking about came against wide receiver Dohnte Meyers.

Pro Football Focus also credited Hunter with two passes defensed, and his PFF grade of 80.7 was the second-highest among Jaguars players in Week 4.

The Jaguars are doing a great job of handling Travis Hunter's playing time

Travis Hunter was part of a rotation at corner to start the season and barely played receiver. That led to questions about how the Jaguars were using him. However, Cameron Wolfe of NFL Media revealed that they were trying to ease him into action after he suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2025. Moreover, Wolfe said that the former Heisman Trophy winner would see an uptick in playing time against the Patriots. He did and made the most of it, registering his first career interception.

Although Hunter didn't register a pick against Cincinnati, you could make the case that he had an even better showing than the week prior. It's also worth noting that as long as the West Palm Beach, Florida native keeps making plays on defense, there won't be much discussion about him not playing two-ways.

And that's the thing: Even though Travis Hunter is mainly playing cornerback, he's quickly becoming the game-changer the Jaguars envisioned when they drafted him second overall in 2025.

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