'He Is Not a Fool': Shedeur Sanders Chimes In on Travis Hunter Playing Both Ways for the Jaguars

For all the noise and fuss that was made about Travis Hunter potentially playing on both sides of the ball prior to the 2025 NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars seemed perfectly content to let the 21-year-old attempt to do the impossible. However, they aren’t willing to completely set him loose just yet.

The Jaguars are taking a training-wheels-like approach to Hunter’s two-way aspirations. In an attempt to not overwhelm the former Buffalo, Jacksonville is planning to primarily use him as a wide receiver to start the season, affording him some extra time to learn the defense’s playbook.

However, Hunter’s former quarterback and new conference rival, Shedeur Sanders, is confident that the 2024 Heisman trophy winner knows what he’s doing.

“He’s going to be able to do whatever he feels like doing, as long as the coach allows him to do that. Of course he’s going to master one first, he may be in packages on either side of the ball, but he understands what he’s up against. He’s not a fool.”

As far as the Jaguar’s decision to start him on offense first is concerned, that was something that their newfound head coach, Liam Coen, believed would be for the best. In noting that the team didn’t necessarily intend for Hunter to begin his career at the WR position on day one, Coen asserted that this approach will likely prove to be more efficient.

Now that he’s had a week to get familiar with the offense’s concepts, Hunter is slated to be introduced to the defensive side of things starting next week.

“We wanted to be able to clean up some of the things that we may have been able to miss yesterday, get extra reps on the offensive side of the ball, and next week he’ll start to roll on defense.”

Given the unprecedented nature of Hunter’s ambitions, Sanders’ suggestion regarding personnel packages appears to be plausible. His FBS snap counts may be impressive and partially responsible for his Heisman trophy victory, but it is likely unsafe and unsustainable at the NFL level.

Considering the amount of first-round draft capital that the Jaguars forfeited in exchange for the second overall pick, they’ll surely be looking to protect the newest face of their franchise. Simply put, their job will be to protect Hunter from himself.

According to Coen, the Colorado product is a “football-smart guy” who “knows what’s cut out for him coming up,” suggesting that the franchise is confident that Hunter will be able to dissect and understand both of the playbooks. Hunter is set to make his professional debut on September 7, when the Jaguars travel to Arizona for an inter conference matchup against the Cardinals.

Given the amount of hype surrounding the hybrid talent, in addition to the fact that the contest is one of the only two that are scheduled to kickoff at 4:05 pm EST, there certainly won’t be any shortage of eyeballs that Sunday as fans from around the nation will be waiting to get their first glimpse of the next generational athlete.