Jaguars’ Travis Hunter debuts on offense, returns on defense in preseason debut

Copied!

Jacksonville Jaguars first-round pick Travis Hunter saw action on offense and defense in the first half of his preseason debut, as promised by his head coach Liam Coen earlier in the week.

It was a small sample size that added up to 18 total snaps for Hunter in the Jaguars’ preseason opener Saturday against the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers.

Hunter started at wide receiver for the Jags on the game’s opening drive, playing 10 of the drive’s 11 snaps and recording two catches for 9 yards. The Colorado product didn’t return to the field on defense for the ensuing drive, but did debut at cornerback on the Steelers’ second offensive drive. He recorded five snaps with zero statistics and returned later for a few more plays.

“Yeah, he got some work,” Coen said at halftime. “I’d like to see him just fill in a little more on defense and the run game. He did a good job on the third-down [catch] to put us in fourth down to give us the ability to go for it. He made another catch, so it was a good start.”

Related Links

The two-way unicorn didn’t get a whole lot of run, leaving with the first-team offense after one drive and getting just eight defensive snaps, but that really shouldn’t be surprising.

While fans were anticipating Hunter’s preseason debut, Coen and Co. need to worry about the regular season and keeping the 2025 NFL Draft’s No. 2 overall pick fresh.

There wasn’t much to take away, but on a decent opening drive for the Jaguars in which quarterback Trevor Lawrence marched his team 44 yards for a field goal, he targeted Hunter thrice. One catch — a screen in which Hunter juked and spun for 7 yards — was negated by a penalty. Hunter’s quickness and slipperiness is evident, though.

Hunter’s much-ballyhooed preseason debut came just a day after his former Buffaloes teammate, Shedeur Sanders, took the preseason centerstage.

Sanders impressed and played into the second half of the Cleveland Browns’ win over the Carolina Panthers.

Hunter didn’t get as many opportunities to shine, but he did nothing to diminish the anticipation of an unprecedented rookie season again.

Read More