A year ago, in his rookie season, Travis Hunter was a receiver who played some cornerback. This season, he came out of training camp almost exactly the opposite.
In 2025, Hunter took 324 offensive snaps and 162 on defense, about two-thirds of his work coming on offense. Through Aug. 17 of this year’s camp, that split had completely flipped. 178 total snaps, 116 on defense, 61 on offense, and one on special teams. In the Jaguars’ joint practice against the Carolina Panthers, the ratio was 28 defensive snaps to just two on offense.
So when the Jacksonville Jaguars open their season against the Cleveland Browns at EverBank Stadium, how Hunter is used will be the biggest question on the team’s roster and the first real evidence of where Hunter’s two-way aspirations are heading.
A big part of this flip is the emergence of the Jaguars’ receiving room. Brian Thomas Jr., despite his struggles last year, is a shoo-in to be a starter, but the play of Parker Washington down the stretch, along with the addition of Jakobi Meyers at the deadline last year, has created a crowded room.
On the opposite side of the ball, the Jacksonville secondary struggled at times, and while the Jaguars did re-sign cornerback Montaric Brown and get Jourdan Lewis back from injury, it remains the weaker of the two groups.
Upon the release of the team’s depth chart, Hunter was listed as starting a cornerback and a backup receiver. Many assumed this meant that Hunter’s pursuit of being a two-way player was, at best, put on hold. That isn’t the case, according to head coach Liam Coen, who said, “I’d say not so fast. Let’s pump the brakes and just give the guy a chance to get back.”
Hunter’s rookie season was cut short after he suffered a torn LCL in his right knee during a non-contact practice on Oct. 30. The injury came less than two weeks after his best offensive performance, when he recorded eight receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams in London. He has since fully recovered and the team noted that added ten pounds of muscle during the offseason.
If you ask him, Hunter wants to play all of the snaps and play them at a high level. “I don’t want to be the best at one position,” Hunter said. “There’s a lot of people that’s the best at one position. Ain’t nobody yet been the best at both full time.”
When the ball was in his hands last year, the electricity of his athleticism was evident. Making people miss and getting extra yards were regular occurrences. Coen talked about his ability with the ball, saying, “I do know that he’s a playmaker. He’s somebody that we want to get the ball in his hands too.”
His two-way ability is undeniable and his love for the game is clear, but the question is: Can his body handle the physicality of the NFL on every snap? Hunter has been clear about his disdain for the sidelines. “I don’t want to see no highlights of me just sitting there, logging one dude up for the whole game. So I like playing both sides of the ball. And I cannot sit on the sideline. I don’t think nobody noticed that yet. I hate the sideline. I do not want to sit there. I can’t sit there and just watch football. I got to be on the field.”
Throughout this series, we will update Hunter’s snap counts each week to answer the question everyone has about the Jaguars’ two-way star. Is the two-way experiment alive, or is he slowly but surely becoming a cornerback with an occasional offensive package?
Every Monday, this space will carry Hunter’s total snap count. It will break down his offensive, defensive, and special team snaps while also keeping a running total on the season. Snap counts will be found on the official NFL website and Pro Football Reference.
