Sean Payton inspiring Jaguars historic quest as Travis Hunter draft ‘bust’ all but forgotten

Write off the Jacksonville Jaguars at your peril.

For just the third time since the turn of the millennium, the Jags champions of the AFC South, and the turnaround is complete.

Getty

Jacksonville has gone from four wins in 2024, to 13 wins and just four losses this time around, in what has been a very successful first season for head coach Liam Coen.

But it’s another of the NFL‘s more experienced coaches who has perhaps, inadvertently, helped fuel the Jaguars’ rise.

Jaguars fire back at ‘small-market’ tag

Before the Denver Broncos hosted Jacksonville in Week 16, Sean Payton made a seemingly innocuous comment to reporters.

The Broncos HC referenced the fact that the Jaguars are a ‘small-market’ team, noting: “As you look at them and you watch the tape, it’s a smaller market but you see a real good team.”

It was an odd comment to make, but not one that was outright inflammatory.

The Jaguars, though, took notice.

Jacksonville upset Denver at Mile High, winning the game 32-20. Speaking afterwards, Coach Coen said: “Just thankful that a small-market team like us can come into a place like Mile High and get it done.”

According to ESPN, he also made sure his players knew about Payton’s comment before kickoff.

In Week 18, Jacksonville’s social media team referenced it once more.

After wrapping up the AFC South with a 41-7 win over the Tennessee Titans, the Jags posted an image that incorporated ‘Clippy’ — Microsoft Office’s animated paperclip virtual assistant from the late 90s, which was infamous for offering unsolicited help.

X @Jaguars

Getty

In front of massive ‘Jags win’ letters, Clippy’s speech bubble read: “I see that you’re a small-market team. Do you need help?”

Clearly, the Jags have a chip on their shoulder as they look to make franchise history.

Jacksonville has never been to the Super Bowl, and have been beaten in three AFC Championship games since their first season 30 years ago.

They will hope to go one step further this time around, and have been ranked high in talkSPORT’s top contenders.

What makes this season’s rise even more impressive, is that they played a majority of the 2025 season without one of the NFL’s top draft picks.

Travis Hunter draft ‘bust’ forgotten amid Jaguars rise

The Jags selected two-way star Travis Hunter with the second overall pick, moving up the board in a trade with the Cleveland Browns.

Getty

Jacksonville sent their 2025 No. 5 pick, their 36th pick (second round), their 126th pick (fourth round) and a 2026 first-round pick to Cleveland in exchange.

Before arriving in the NFL, Hunter promised the league had ‘never seen a player like me.’

But his disappointing rookie season was over by November, after he underwent season-ending knee surgery.

Hunter, who can play both wide receiver and cornerback, but who struggled in both of those positions through seven weeks, was labelled a ‘total bust as an NFL rookie’ two months ago.

NFL's Greatest......

Ranking the top 10......

Quarterbacks of all-time – Can anyone better Tom Brady?

Wide receivers of all-time – Does Randy Moss or Jerry Rice come out on top?

Running backs of all-time – Stacking Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and more

Tight ends of all-time – How does Travis Kelce compare?

With his career already at a crossroads, he will need to work to ensure he’s not left behind by a Jaguars team growing in strength week-by-week.

Even without their top draft pick, the Jags are certainly one to watch in the postseason. But ‘bandwagon’ fans won’t necessarily be welcome for the trip.

“Everybody in this locker room on the Jaguars team, even upstairs, we know everybody’s probably going to try to hop on this bandwagon now, but we don’t want anybody,” defensive end Travon Walker said after blowing away the Broncos in December.

“They can stay where they’re at. It’s us. It’s all about the Jags.

“F*** everybody but us. Excuse my language, dad, grand-mamma, but f*** everybody but us.”

Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.