Jaguars' Lawrence Sounds Off on Travis Hunter's High Expectations

By far, the two players on the Jacksonville Jaguars who have the most on their shoulders heading into the upcoming season are quarterback Trevor Lawrence and rookie DB/WR Travis Hunter.

For Lawrence, he's going to be heading into his 5th season as a pro. When he was drafted in 2021, many thought he was going to make an instant impact for the team, that he was going to change the organization around. While he's done enough to warrant a 5-year, $270 million extension, which he signed last offseason, he hasn't quite lived up to the expectations that people had for him coming out of Clemson.

As for Travis Hunter, the expectations are coming from a different direction. Not even having played an NFL game yet, Hunter is already being treated as a league superstar, someone who, if he doesn't at least win Rookie of the Year, would be a disappointment.

The fact is, not only will he have to perform offensively, but fans and analysts alike are looking to him to be a game-changer on both sides of the ball. At Colorado, Hunter averaged 119 snaps per game, making a difference as both a wide receiver and cornerback. Transitioning that type of assignment to the NFL won't be easy, but he's adamant about trying.

Even Lawrence believes that through all the noise, that's going to be the hardest part of Hunter's rookie year. Playing both sides means learning two playbooks, twice the formations, and twice the systems. Even though there will always be doubts from the fans and the analysts, Lawrence is willing to be there for every step of Hunter's journey, and is optimistic that he has what it takes to tackle the nearly impossible feat.

"I think it is the commitment to learning the playbook and trying to learn the two systems. It's a lot on a rookie,"Lawrence said earlier this week at the American Century Championship golf tournament. "It's challenging to learn everything, and he's done a nice job and we still have work to do and we're going to get a lot done in training camp and get us ready to play come September."

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