Travis Hunter is turning heads again, and this time it has nothing to do with a Heisman Trophy ceremony. The Jacksonville Jaguars’ two-way phenom has been the standout story through four days of training camp, showing coaches and teammates that the LCL tear that wiped out most of his rookie season is officially in the rearview mirror. Head coach Liam Coen has been effusive about Hunter’s progress, and the buzz inside the building is that the No. 2 overall pick from 2025 is faster and stronger than he was before going down last October.
Hunter’s rookie campaign was a tale of two halves. Before the injury, he was logging heavy snaps on both sides of the ball for the Colorado Heisman winner turned NFL project — 324 of his 489 total snaps came on offense as a receiver, with the rest mixed in at cornerback. A season-ending knee injury in practice cut that experiment short in October, sending Hunter into a nine-month rehab process that reportedly included a significant offseason transformation, adding muscle to his frame while rebuilding explosiveness in his surgically repaired knee.
A Different Player Coming Out of Rehab
By all accounts, the version of Hunter now practicing at the Miller Electric Center isn’t just healthy — he might be improved. Reports out of camp have him clocking speeds as fast as 22.6 mph in tracked drills, a number that would rank among the quickest skill players in the league had it come during a game. Coen said this offseason he was “extremely pleased” with where Hunter is mentally and physically, crediting the added mass Hunter built in the weight room through the winter. Through the first several days of camp, Hunter has rotated steadily between a teal offensive jersey and a white defensive jersey, sometimes switching mid-practice as the staff experiments with how to best deploy his rare two-way skill set.
That dual-threat identity has been the central storyline of Jacksonville’s offseason. Jaguars general manager James Gladstone confirmed earlier this year that Hunter’s workload would shift toward defense in 2026 after his rookie season leaned heavily toward receiver reps, and Coen has continued to insist there’s no chance Hunter becomes a one-way player. Through the early days of camp, Hunter has taken 29 snaps on defense compared to 19 on offense, a notable reversal from his rookie split and a signal that the coaching staff intends to lean into his coverage ability while still finding ways to get him the ball. He’s expected to line up as a starting cornerback opposite Buster Brown, giving Jacksonville’s secondary a difference-maker it lacked for much of last season.
What It Means for the Jaguars’ 2026 Outlook
The Athletic tabbed Hunter as Jacksonville’s breakout candidate for the coming season, and it’s easy to see why. A defense that struggled to generate consistent coverage answers in 2025 suddenly has a former Heisman winner capable of shadowing opposing No. 1 receivers, while an offense already loaded with Brian Thomas Jr., Jakobi Meyers and Parker Washington gains a change-up weapon who can line up in the slot or take a jet-sweep look on any given snap. For a Jaguars team looking to make noise in a crowded AFC picture and even sneak into Super Bowl contender conversations, that kind of positional flexibility could be the difference between a middling defense and one that creates real turnovers.
There’s still no firm word on exactly how the offensive-to-defensive split will shake out once the regular season begins, and the Jaguars have made clear they’ll keep experimenting through the preseason before locking in a plan. But the injury concerns that lingered through the offseason appear to be fading fast, and barring a setback, Hunter looks on track to be a full participant for Week 1. That’s a significant development for a franchise whose sportsbook outlook has shifted alongside his recovery — Jacksonville has crept up in early-season NFL odds conversations as one of the more interesting sleeper picks in the conference, largely because Hunter gives them a rare two-way disruptor most rosters simply don’t have. If Day 4 was any indication, the rust everyone worried about this offseason may already be gone.
