Can Jaguars' Travis Hunter Win DROY Playing Limited Snaps?

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been placed in one of the most unique situations in the NFL: they have a gifted two-way athlete that they must be able to manage during the course of the next four to five years.

Travis Hunter enters the league as one of the brightest superstars before taking live snaps in an NFL game. He is a high-end playmaker at wide receiver and cornerback, having won the Heisman Trophy last season after a remarkable campaign that saw him showcase rare ball skills that don't come around often at either position.

In Jacksonville, it has already been determined by the coaching staff and front office that Hunter will be playing most of his snaps at wide receiver while also seeing time on the field at cornerback. This is a unique situation for any team to be in with this caliber of a player who can make play after play from either position and Jacksonville wants to make sure they can continue on this path without compromise who Hunter is as a player, overall.

Hunter will illustrate his skill set at receiver and likely thrust his way into Offensive Rookie of the Year contention. It is favorable for him to potentially secure the title with a similar rookie campaign to his teammate Brian Thomas Jr., who broke multiple franchise rookie records on his way to a Top 3 finish in the voting.

Yet, it feels like Hunter's ability as a cornerback is being underrated with much of the focus on his play at wideout during offseason training activities. I argued during the pre-draft process that Hunter's ceiling is likely high as a cornerback where he graded very well for me on my draft board. It is great that defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile will still get him on the field on his side of the ball throughout the season.

Even with his limited reps on defense this year, is there a way Hunter could not only play himself into OROY but Defensive Rookie of the Year?

This is uncharted territory and we will see how the NFL reacts to this when the voting process for both awards begin later in the season. Hunter would need an incredibly production and snap ratio where every time he would step on the field, he would be making a play on the ball every other time he was targeted to put up numbers similar to Sauce Garner in 2022 when he had two interceptions and 20 passes defended as a rookie.

Hunter having a productive rookie season at wideout while to putting up Gardner-like numbers as a cornerback playing limited snaps each game would not just put him in rookie of the year talks: we would have to have discussions on whether or not he deserves the league MVP. In other words, Hunter would need to have a similar season to 2024 with the limited reps on defense.

Is it possible for Hunter to be the defensive rookie of the year? Yes, but it would have to be with production unforeseen at that type of consistency and would make it unlikely overall. Hunter would have better chances of winning the offensive rookie of the year award but it wouldn't hurt to come back later in the season to this article to view how things have transpired to that.

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