Jaguars' James Gladstone Addresses Travis Hunter Misconception

When Jacksonville Jaguars general manager James Gladstone swung the bold trade in April to land star wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter at No. 2 overall, it was clear there was a plan in place for their new building block.

That plan, of course, will consist of practice and eventually game reps at both cornerback and wide receiver. And through Hunter's first offseason program with the Jaguars, he saw most of his reps on offense but eventually worked his way to playing both roles in one practice.

But, that is all according to the plan Gladstone, head coach Liam Coen and the Jaguars always had for Hunter's first offseason after his stellar career with the Colorado Buffaloes.

Recently, Gladstone spoke with SiriusXM NFL Radio's hosts Andrew Siciliano and Max Starks and explained why there seems to be a misconception surrounding Hunter and how the Jaguars plan to use him.

“I do think there's a little bit of a misconception in that it's wide receiver first, corner second as much as it is the learning methodology of wide receiver through this phase, and then continuing to trickle in more defense, since that is his primary background," Gladstone said.

As Gladstone explained, the offseason program is one of the best times in the entire NFL calendar to onboard players and actually develop them. It was always the Jaguars' plan for Hunter to take on a large offensive role over the offseason, because that was their best path to getting him ready for both roles in Week 1.

“The windows for development in the NFL, they are few and far between, right? The off-season program is where it exists in its healthiest state," Gladstone said.

"Our understanding that Travis is most naturally comfortable, most naturally in tune on the defensive side of the ball, 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's so much more nuance, so much more adjustments in real time on the offensive side of the ball that would require a lot more learning."

In short, do not fret over how Hunter is being used in the days of June. The Jaguars have their plan, and they are sticking to it.

"So with this phase of the process sort of being rooted through that lens, that's why we wanted to put the emphasis on ‘o’ knowing that we would then trickle in the defensive participation a little bit more towards the back end of the off-season program and really as we get into training camp," Gladstone said.