Jaguars Play It Safe With Travis Hunter Decision Sunday

Originally posted on The Spun | By Daniel Bates | Last updated Aug 17, 2025 1:26 PM ET

Jaguars second overall pick Travis Hunter made his NFL preseason debut last week where he took the first steps towards potentially being the league's first two-way star of the modern era.

Eagles Hall of Famer Chuck Bednarik is really the last of the NFL's iron men. And while players like Mike Vrabel, Troy Brown, Julian Edelman and Travis' mentor Deion Sanders all saw time on each side of the ball at some point during their respective careers, none of them did it full-time.

Hunter played 18 snaps in Jacksonville's exhibition loss — 10 on offense and eight on defense — where he logged two catches for nine yards and whiffed on a tackle on fellow rookie running back Kaleb Johnson.

All in all, head coach Liam Coen described last week's performance as "solid" from the Heisman Trophy winner, all things considered.

"He made a couple good catches on some option routes and missed the one tackle defensively that I noticed," Coen said after the game. "I'll have to watch the tape on how he operated defensively a little bit more, but I thought offensively, he made the right decisions on those option routes."

"Made a good catch, almost broke out of that one where Trevor put it behind him on that third down we talked about," he added. "But I'll have to go watch the tape a little bit more to know more."

But as much as Coen liked what he saw from the No. 2 pick, it sounds like they're going to hold him out of Sunday's game vs. the Saints.

Jaguars taking extra precautions

According to the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Hunter won't be suiting up for Week 2's preseason tune up vs. New Orleans after being listed with an upper body injury on the Jags' injury report.

Travis had been questionable leading up to kickoff and was held out of Friday's walkthrough in order to take extra care of his body. However, he still took mental reps that day by following along with the offense's play sheet alongside wide receivers coach Edgar Bennett.