The Jaguars drafted Travis Hunter to be a two-way player, but this year he’s been mostly a cornerback. And on Sunday he was only a cornerback.
Hunter played every snap on defense in Sunday’s win over the Bengals and did not play on offense at all. Hunter also didn’t play any special teams, and after the game Jaguars coach Liam Coen said after the game that Hunter was too important to the defense on a day when cornerbacks Montaric “Buster” Brown and Christian Braswell were both out with injuries.
“We knew with Buster being down and Braswell being down, he was going to play every single snap of the game,” Coen said of Hunter. “We had some things for him on offense, but we just didn’t feel like putting him out there — if he gets hurt on offense, we’re in a real bad spot. So didn’t want to put ourselves at risk there. I was very proud of the way Travis played defensively today.”
Hunter was one of the best players on the field on defense, with an interception that was negated by a penalty, multiple pass breakups and some hard hits.
“He played his ass off today,” Coen said. “He had the pick that was called back, he had a ton of PBUs, he had the huge tackle, ended up knocking the dude out pretty good. I just thought Trav balled today.”
The Jaguars aren’t saying so, but Hunter currently plays so little offense that the team appears to view him more as a cornerback who can occasionally get on the field for a gadget play on offense than as an actual two-way player. But on a day when Hunter only had one job, the Jaguars were pleased with the way he did it.