The Jacksonville Jaguars may be showing their cards on Travis Hunter.
For most of training camp, Hunter has bounced between offense and defense, giving the Jaguars a look at the two-way player they’ve been talking about since they traded up to take him in the 2026 NFL Draft. But Monday at the Miller Electric Center brought a different feel. On Day 14 of camp, Hunter took zero 11-on-11 reps on offense and was worked much more heavily at cornerback.
That doesn’t mean the Jaguars are suddenly backing away from Hunter as a receiver. It does, though, suggest they want to spend more of their practice time sharpening him on defense before Week 1.
“We just wanted to get him the seven-on-seven work and just really hone in on a little bit more corner. Made a good fricking play on the outcut over there,” Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said after Monday’s practice at the Miller Electric Center.
“Trying to get him more just when he's on defense, and then getting some of the mental reps on defense. When he's not in and he's coming to offense every time, we're losing out on even more coaching in those moments.
And so, we wanted to just be very intentional today about getting him some of those visual reps so Mat can coach him even when he's not in, he's not running over. So, we just wanted to get him a little bit more of that.”
Hunter had gone back and forth between offense and defense in every other training camp practice before Monday, so the heavier cornerback workload stood out. It’s also worth noting that cornerback has long been the position where the Jaguars have been projected to feature him in 2026.
The Jaguars still clearly value him on offense, too. They have never labeled him a backup wide receiver, and he has continued to make plays at that spot throughout camp.
“We all know he's our 3A, 3B receiver right now, you know what I mean? And trying to get him the exposure to every opportunity that we have out here,” Coen said.
“But right now, I mean, we need a lot of the communication, a lot of the repetition needs to continue obviously on both sides of the ball, but specifically on the defense where, like, all right, offensively, it's a lot of play called, go execute the play. And shoot, there's a lot of detail and fundamental and techniques that go into that.
But post-snap, pre-snap, post-snap on defense, there's just so much more that can go into it, especially being in unison and being in connection. And so, we're just trying to be intentional over the next couple weeks just about making sure that we're ready to go for Cleveland and feel good about that.”
So Hunter remains the two-way weapon the Jaguars have envisioned. Still, Monday felt like the clearest hint yet that when the Jaguars open against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 13, the biggest share of his snaps may come at cornerback.
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The day also offered a reminder of how quickly the assignment can stack up. Hunter nearly hauled in a tough pass on offense and spent much of the rest of the workout disrupting throws on defense, adding to a camp ledger that now sits at 70 offensive snaps and 137 defensive snaps in team periods. For a player already being asked to handle a unique role, the Jaguars are clearly leaning harder into the experiment as August moves on. [Read more 🡒]
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For Hughes, the move means his rookie season is over, though it also gives the Jaguars the chance to keep him around as a redshirt year while they sort through the rest of the group. The timing matters for Jacksonville because the transaction also clears a roster spot for veteran linebacker Jahlani Tavai, giving the team a little more flexibility as it tries to stabilize the position. [Read more 🡒]