Although the Jacksonville Jaguars said early in 2026 that they weren't giving up on the two way, Travis Hunter has barely played receiver this season. Then again, that's not necessarily a bad thing when you take into account that the former Heisman Trophy winner has quietly turned into a lockdown corner and a mainstay of the Jacksonville defense.
Five games into the season, Hunter has allowed a completion rate of 63.6 percent for 171 passing yards on 22 targets but has yet to surrender a touchdown. He's specifically thrived in man coverage, giving up just a 25.0 percent completion rate, the third-lowest figure in the league.
But as good as Hunter has been, questions linger about whether Jacksonville gave up too much to trade up for him in the 2025 draft. Brett Kollman shared his thoughts.
The Jaguars are getting plenty of value from Travis Hunter at corner
Brett Kollman recently did a breakdown of Travis Hunter against Cincinnati. He highlighted a play in which the West Palm Beach, Florida native shadowed receiver Dohnte Meyers and managed to force an incompletion because of his superb technique.
Following this analysis, Kollman wondered aloud whether trading for Hunter was worth it if he becomes an elite corner but doesn't play receiver. Here's his response (2:09 mark).
"If you're looking at it for just pick value, it's hard to say that would be, Kollman said. "However, I think that when you're evaluating trades, you have to have the context of who you're trading for and just everything that surrounds that team, and for Travis Hunter specifically, I loved the move on draft day. I loved that they got aggressive. I love that they went and got the unicorn player in this class.
Kollman continued, "The reason why I loved it is not because I just thought that he could be a good corner, which, by the way, I thought that he should be primarily a corner and then moonlight as a wide receiver, not the other way around. So I love the way that they're deploying him so far. If he does not play wide receiver at all, it's hard to say that they would take it back because of the team building that they have done around everything since."
Later, Kollman argues that Hunter is playing receiver even if it isn't on a full-time basis, but he's excited about his future because of the confidence level that he's playing with right now and his leap from the previous season.
Kollman makes some compelling points but doesn't truly answer whether Hunter was worth the 2025 second-round pick and the 2026 first-round selection the Jags gave up to draft him second overall. The answer is yes.
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The Jaguars would love to see Travis Hunter play WR but he's doing just fine at CB
You could make the case that the Jaguars gave up too many assets to move up for Travis Hunter, but if you can draft a franchise cornerstone who plays a premium position, he's worth two or even three first-round selections. Heck, the Indianapolis Colts sent the New York Jets two first-round selections in return for Saucer Gardner, and nobody batted an eye.
Granted, Garner was already an established corner when Indy acquired him, but Hunter also had value because of his two-way skills during the draft process. Heck, it's easy to forget, but he was the highest-rated corner and receiver of his class, so you can justify the Jags' decision to give up early draft picks in return for him.
It's also worth noting that the jury was still out on Hunter because he suffered a season-ending injury as a rookie. He just had a breakout game against the Los Angeles Rams before he got hurt. Had No. 12 stayed healthy the remainder of 2025, he would have made strides on both offense and defense.
Now that Travis Hunter is back at full strength, he's showing just how much of a playmaker he can be at corner. If the Jaguars can also get a bit out of him at receiver, that would be great, but they're already getting an encouraging return on their investment from 2025, so they shouldn't fix what's not broken.
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