Former AFC South GM Sounds Off on Travis Hunter

Jon Robinson worked in the New England front office when Troy Brown, Mike Vrabel and Julian Edelman dabbled in playing on both sides of the ball. Robinson also spent seven years in the AFC South as general manager of the Titans.

So, Robinson’s comments earlier this week were significant. Addressing how Trevor Lawrence and Travis Hunter will mesh, Robinson pointed out an important factor in any quarterback’s success: The quality of his targets.

“I'm excited to go down to Duval and see what Trevor and the new addition, Travis Hunter, can do,” Robinson said early in the week as a guest on Good Morning Football. “They gave up a lot of draft capital to go up and get Travis, and they believe in him. They think he's a generational player, and they've got Brian Thomas Jr. there, who had an outstanding last year.”

Hunter, Robinson believes, simply with his presence on offense will actually open opportunities for Thomas to eclipse the productive numbers (87 receptions, 1,282 yards, 10 touchdowns) he put up as a rookie. And, in turn, Lawrence will benefit, too.

“Most of these good quarterbacks on good teams,” Robinson said, “they have more than one receiver. Because defenses don't just tilt the coverage to whoever the primary target is, and then you've got nobody else to throw to. Well, now Jacksonville has Travis Hunter, and I'm excited.

“It’s a big year for Trevor. He's got to continue to take a step. And this guy (Hunter), I thought he was a supreme talent in the draft last year, two-way player. We'll see how much he's going to play on defense.”

Robinson, whose Titans posted six straight winning seasons from 2016-21 and advanced to four AFC postseasons – including the 2019 AFC Championship Game – agrees with the Jaguars’ approach in deploying Hunter. He also acknowledged that Hunter’s situation is completely different than how the Patriots used Brown and Edelman.

“It seems like they're going to play him at wide receiver mostly and then he'll dabble some over at corner. When I was in New England, we did it a couple of times out of necessity with Troy Brown and Jules. I think that Travis may play a little bit more defense than Jules did, but I'm excited to watch Trevor and Travis out there, combined with BTJ.”

Tennessee fired Robinson after his first losing season, when the team went 7-10 in 2022. That year, Jacksonville won the AFC South and beat the Chargers in a dramatic wild-card playoff game before bowing out against eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City.

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