Jaguars' Breakout Rookie Candidate Is Clear

The Jacksonville Jaguars have some pretty high expectations for No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter, and for pretty clear reasons.

Jacksonville gave up quite a bit to land Hunter, trading away next year's first-round pick, as well as the No. 5 and No. 36 picks in the 2025 NFL Draft. And in doing so, the Jaguars automatically made Hunter one of the most important players not just in their draft class, but on the entire roster.

As a result, it is no surprise to see Hunter's name at the top of the list when it comes to breakout candidates from the Jaguars' rookie class.

In a piece by USA Today's Tyler Dragon on each team's breakout rookie candidate, Hunter was the clear and obvious answer for the Jaguars.

"The Jaguars gave up a lot to get the versatile star. Hunter is already turning heads in Jacksonville. Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence told reporters Hunter has “a lot of juice” and said the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner can “run all day.” The Jaguars plan to deploy Hunter on both sides of the football like he wants. He played over 86% of Colorado’s offensive snaps and 82% of the team’s defensive snaps," Dragon said.

It is hard to imagine Hunter's snap splits will be similar in the NFL to what they were in college, but he is still set to make an impact on both sides of the ball for the Jaguars early on in his NFL career -- and that is why he gets the nod here over Caleb Ransaw and Wyatt Milum.

“I think so far so good. He had a couple of missed assignments today that he knew right away. He came off the grass and took accountability for them," Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said last week.

"The one thing you notice is for a guy that hasn’t played a ton of football, been out conditioning for maybe the last two months because he was out on a bit of a tour, the guy can run forever. He just kind of goes, runs a route, runs back. You can tell he’s in football shape. He’s done a nice job. [Wide Receivers Coach] Edgar Bennett, the coaches, [Secondary Coach] Ron Milus, those guys have done a great job of meeting with him when they’ve had time to do so, and Travis has worked hard at getting this stuff right.”

You can find us on X @JaguarsOnSI and @_John_Shipley.

You can seek us out at our Facebook page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE