Travis Hunter fitness update as Jaguars draft gamble enters ‘top 10 year’ with $46.65m contract on line

The Jacksonville Jaguars have spent much of the offseason waiting on Travis Hunter.

He arrived in Florida to much fanfare, as the No. 2 overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft.

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A Heisman Trophy winner in college, Hunter was hailed as the league’s next great two-way player.

But his debut season didn’t quite go to plan.

Hunter was shut down in November, after he suffered a non-contact lateral collateral ligament (LCL) injury to his right knee in pratice.

The week before that, he’d had his best showing for the Jaguars, and scored his first NFL touchdown in a loss against the Los Angeles Rams.

Hunter finished his rookie season with 28 catches for 298 yards and a score. On defense, he had 15 tackles and three pass breakups.

The rookie played 67 percent of Jacksonville’s offensive snaps and 36 percent on defense before being sidelined — and his use on both sides of the ball led to many speculating it contributed to his injury.

In 2026, the Jaguars will have a rethink.

Travis Hunter to be ‘unleashed’ but contract gamble could backfire

Head coach Liam Coen said in June that the team were unsure when Hunter would be ‘full go’ for practice.

But on Wednesday, NFL insider Cameron Wolfe suggested the cornerback/wide receiver is ‘ready to be unleashed’ for training camp on July 28.

He added that the goal is to eventually have Hunter play ‘all the snaps’ on defense in any particular game, amid the belief he can be elite on that side of the ball.

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“The media are going to be talking about him as a top 10 cornerback… that’s their belief in him, that’s why they’re putting commitment in him playing that much on defense,” Wolfe said.

“He will still play a lot of offense, and make an impact, but it may fluctuate each game… they still plan on him to be a two-way player.

“But the luxury for Jacksonville — they have four starting-calibre receivers, so they can all rotate in and out and help them be even better than they were when they went 13-4 last year.”

The suggestion from Wolfe is that Hunter will play more defense than offense in 2026, and if he eventually settles as a corner, his contract could come into the spotlight.

Is Travis Hunter overpaid for his position?

Hunter signed a four-year, $46.65 million fully guaranteed rookie deal after being selected as the No. 2 overall draft pick.

With that money, he will be the NFL’s 22nd highest-paid cornerback, and well above the league average salary of $10m to $12m for the position.

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Meanwhile, that contract makes him the 29th highest-paid wide receiver, when listing him as an offensive weapon instead.

Hunter was also paid a mega $30.57m signing bonus up front in 2025, and became the first non-quarterback not drafted first overall to get that kind of deal.

The Jaguars traded four draft picks — No. 5, 36 and 126, and their first-round selection in 2026 — to the Cleveland Browns to move up three spots to get Hunter last year.

With that factored in, questions about his productivity on the field will rightly be asked.

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It’s rare for teams to use a top five pick on a cornerback, so if Hunter settles on defense, Jacksonville could face scrutiny over their decision.

Equally, the 23-year-old struggled to make a major impact on offense before his injury, and hasn’t yet done enough to justify being the 29th highest-paid wideout in the NFL.

Hunter will need to explode in 2026 if the Jags are to avoid questions over their decision to draft him, and the price they paid to do it.

‘Unleashing’ him in training camp would be a good start, and should offer some clues into what’s to come this fall.

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