What ‘way-too-early’ bold prediction says about Travis Hunter’s rookie season with Jaguars

A ‘way-too-early’ bold prediction for the 2025 NFL season from Jeffri Chadiha of NFL.com has the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Travis Hunter making a greater impact at cornerback than wide receiver.

“That doesn’t mean he won’t have some impressive moments (at wide receiver),” wrote Chadiha. “It’s just that he won’t even be Jacksonville’s top target, as the team already has a strong receiver in second-year pro Brian Thomas Jr., who produced 87 receptions, 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns as a rookie.

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“The Jags don’t have anybody in the secondary with the potential to do what Hunter can do. That’s why he’s going to shine more on that side of the football.”

Hunter has spent the majority of his practice time up to this point at wide receiver. However, as GM James Gladstone described recently, that is because the team views cornerback as Hunter’s more natural position.

So, with him navigating a bigger learning curve at wide receiver and the nuances that come with that position, along with Brian Thomas Jr. still being the top option, as Chadiha mentioned, one can see why his impact at cornerback could be greater in Year 1.

“Our understanding that Travis is most naturally comfortable, most naturally in-tune on the defensive side of the ball.” Gladstone said on Sirius XM radio. “We wanted to load him offensively throughout this window to ensure that by the time we got to training camp, we had a runway built up on that side because there is so much more nuance. So many more adjustments in real time on the offensive side of the ball that would require a lot more learning.

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“So with this phase of the process sort of being rooted in that lens, that’s why we wanted to put the emphasis on offense, knowing that we would trickle in the defense a little bit more towards the back end of the offseason program and really as we get into training camp.”

With his background as a wideout, Hunter brings impressive ball skills to the cornerback position. During his 2024 season at Colorado, Hunter recorded four interceptions and seven pass breakups on only 41 targets, according to PFF.

In the Jaguars‘ secondary, we know that Tyson Campbell will be at one of the outside cornerback positions, while Jourdan Lewis will primarily be in the nickel, but Hunter, Jarrian Jones, and Buster Brown are competing for playing time at the second outside cornerback spot.

This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars Travis Hunter: What bold prediction says about his rookie year