Months after the Jacksonville Jaguars traded up to the second overall pick to make Travis Hunter the first true two-way star in recent NFL history, he made his debut on Sunday in fairly productive fashion, catching six of his eight targets for 33 yards, appearing in 64% of the Jaguars’ offensive snaps. On defense, it was a different story; he played only six snaps, making one tackle and allowing one completion for 12 yards. That one-plus-way arrangement is set to end, though; Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen plans to give Hunter more snaps on the defensive side of the ball in Week 2’s matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Hunter’s defensive stats won’t count towards fantasy football in standard leagues other than as a member of the Jaguars’ D/ST, but the extra effort that he will exert on defense could impact his offensive production. It’s unclear how many snaps he’ll play at cornerback, though it’ll certainly be more than six, but given that some scouts considered him more polished as a cornerback than a receiver coming out of college, it shouldn’t be too long before he plays defense semi-regularly.
That shouldn’t affect Hunter. In college, he appeared on the field for more than 90% of Colorado’s snaps on both sides of the ball when he was healthy and didn’t seem to show any ill effects. In fact, his most effective games as a receiver came in his last three games of the season, when he presumably would’ve been most fatigued by the heavy workload, and two of his four interceptions came in the final four weeks as well. If his production on either side of the ball takes a dip, it’ll be a function of his lackluster strength and technique, not his cardio fitness. Coen seems likely to prioritize Hunter as a receiver so will pull the plug on his defense if it becomes an issue.
After a quiet-ish debut, he should have an easier time against the Bengals, who allowed 40-year-old Joe Flacco to throw for 290 yards in a narrow Week 1 win over the Cleveland Browns. In that game, three different Cleveland pass-catchers managed more than 60 receiving yards: rookie running back Dylan Sampson, rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr., and veteran wideout Jerry Jeudy. Neither of the Bengals’ outside cornerbacks, DJ Turner II or Cam Taylor-Britt, recorded better than a 70 coverage grade, with Taylor-Britt recording the 10th-worst coverage grade of any corner.
Hunter should be fine whether he plays in the slot or outside. 29 of Hunter’s 42 offensive snaps in Week 1 came in the slot, where he’d have to go against Dax Hill, who was the ninth-best coverage safety in Week 1. But Hill was roughly a league-average cornerback in his last full season in 2023 but tore his ACL in Week 5 in 2024, so his sample size as an elite defender is small, and Turner and Taylor-Britt have never been elite in coverage. Trevor Lawrence should also be incentivized to pass as long as Cincinnati’s front seven performs close to as well against Travis Etienne as it did against Jerome Ford and Sampson last week.
Start or Sit: Start Travis Hunter.
