The Jacksonville Jaguars have been a revelation this season, the freshly crowned AFC South champions set to host their first playoff game in three years when the Buffalo Bills come calling Sunday afternoon. Riding an eight-game winning streak – their 13 regular-season victories the second most in the franchise’s three-decade history – the Jags, one of four NFL teams to have never played in a Super Bowl, are as legit a threat to win the Lombardi Trophy as any in this postseason field.
Fiery Liam Coen is a leading Coach of the Year candidate in his inaugural campaign. He’s helped quarterback Trevor Lawrence play like a league MVP since Thanksgiving. And a reinvigorated defense has more than done its part, swarming to the ball and generating 31 turnovers, most in the AFC.
It’s a stunning turn for a team that, just four months ago, was basically only generating national interest for a decision that might wind up being a regrettable mistake – the selection of 2024 Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter after acquiring the second overall pick of last year’s draft.
Is it coincidental that the Jaguars’ season took off in earnest after Hunter went on injured reserve on Halloween, eventually requiring season-ending knee surgery? Probably. Have they struggled to adapt without a guy who was a two-way star for two seasons at the University of Colorado but struggled to make any kind of impact on either side of the ball as a rookie for Jacksonville? Nope.
“Obviously, they don’t miss him at all. They’re one of the hottest teams going into the playoffs right now,” former New York Giants vice president of player personnel Marc Ross told USA TODAY Sports.
“Of course, when he comes back, it’ll be good to have another good player. But this whole notion of him being the savior obviously is not anywhere remotely close to the reality.”
Such assessments are not intended as pointed criticism of Hunter, a fine prospect coming out of college and – by nearly all accounts – an even finer young man. (Were you a married, multi-millionaire college graduate when you were 22? Me either.)
The real rookie mistake here was likely committed by first-year Jags GM James Gladstone, who traded two Round 1 picks (including No. 5 overall last spring) and a second-rounder to the Cleveland Browns as part of a package that allowed Jacksonville to move up and enlist Hunter’s services.
The Jaguars did not make Gladstone available to USA TODAY Sports. But this is what he said April 24, the night Jacksonville drafted Hunter: ‘There are players who have the capacity to alter a game. There are players who have the capacity to alter the trajectory of a team. There are very few players who have the capacity to alter the trajectory of the sport itself. Travis, while he has a lot to still earn, in our eyes, has the potential to do just that.’
No pressure, Trav.
A bold, if curious, move had the full support of the organization’s rebooted front office. It was also the rare one when a team so aggressively climbed the board for a non-quarterback.
“I thought Cleveland got a heist for that,” says Ross. “This guy is not Calvin Johnson. A corner? They’re not worth it (at No. 2), and there was no way he was gonna play both ways (full-time).
“I always thought Hunter was good, but I never thought he was a generational talent. I respected him for what he did in college, but I just didn’t see either skill set transcending to be some sort of playmaker or difference-maker on either side of the ball. And, particularly, what they gave up to get him? I just thought it was incredibly short-sighted.”
It’s absolutely premature to judge Hunter off an inaugural season that lasted seven games. But he only caught 28 passes for 298 yards and a TD – that score coming in garbage time of his final appearance, a 35-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in London. Determined to play both ways as a rookie – an endeavor backed by the team – Hunter was even less noticeable defensively, making 15 tackles and breaking up three passes.
He was never going to be Megatron. He was never going to be a guy asked to lock up No. 1 receivers like AFC South rival Nico Collins on a consistent basis. But, certainly, more was expected in 2025 than for Hunter to be an AFC version of Bo Melton. (Who’s Bo Melton? As Indiana coach Curt Cignetti would say, Google him.)
All told, Hunter played 486 snaps this season, roughly two-thirds on offense. By comparison, he had 2,625 during his two seasons with the Buffs, leading the FBS in the 2023 and ’24 seasons, including 1,483 in his final year. Hunter led the Big 12 with 96 catches and 15 TDs in 2024 while racking up 1,258 receiving yards, four interceptions and 11 pass breakups.
“In retrospect, it was almost as if they (Jacksonville) were a bad team, and they were building it up like Travis is the savior,” said Ross, noting the Jaguars are typically a franchise in search of a boost in terms of ticket sales and public relations.
Notably, Gladstone swung midseason trades for veteran cornerback Greg Newsome and wideout Jakobi Meyers. Primarily, Newsome was a better scheme fit, plus his arrival allowed the team to offload corner Tyson Campbell and his bloated contract. Meyers quickly helped to elevate the offense and signed a three-year, $60 million extension after coming over from the Las Vegas Raiders in November. He, second-year receiver Brian Thomas Jr. and Parker Washington, who emerged as Lawrence’s favorite target in 2025, project as fixtures.
“Now that Jakobi’s there, where does Travis fit?” wonders Ross. “It’s really a conundrum.”
ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller also had misgivings – with foresight – about Hunter’s situation.
“I never thought that it was gonna work with him playing both sides,” Miller told USA TODAY Sports. “My concern was, this is not a very big guy. He’s been hurt in college. I worried about the workload in the NFL and then just the size difference in the NFL. I don’t see how tackling A.J. Brown is the best use of his skill set.
“I’m not surprised that he didn’t come out and change the NFL with his two-way ability. It was like a good story more than it was a reality.”
But Hunter and the Jags were seemingly committed to his dual-superstar narrative, Hunter splitting his time between offensive and defensive meetings, offensive and defensive practice reps during his first training camp.
“It don’t faze me at all. I’ve been doing this for a minute,” he told USA TODAY Sports’ Jarrett Bell in August regarding his extraordinary rookie workload.
“I’m not worried about what people say. I’m just out here playing football, doing what I’ve got to do to help my team win.”
“It’s really, really hard for anyone to be great at one position in the NFL,” notes Miller while also pointing out that Hunter didn’t have nearly the same schematic structure in college as he does now.
Miller did have Hunter rated as the 2025 draft’s best wide receiver, yet also notes he would have ranked behind the likes of Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers, Rome Odunze and Thomas had he been draft-eligible a year earlier.
Adds Miller: “My big pushback to the whole Travis Hunter Experience was he’s gotta get great at one thing before he tries to do another.”
Ross thinks Hunter – once he’s fully healthy, whenever that is – should focus on being a slot receiver and maybe circle back to a DB role down the road.
Yet, down that road, it will eventually become more apparent what opportunity cost – if any – Gladstone will play for his bold gambit. Potentially similar to the San Francisco 49ers’ misguided trade to get quarterback Trey Lance in 2021, if the team continues to excel, all will be forgiven anyway.
“It helps that they’re winning – it masks the blunder,” says Ross. “You keep winning, it cures those kind of mistakes.”
Between the lines, less might be more as Hunter’s career unfolds. But that could quite likely fuel the conclusion that more was way too much to get him in the first place.