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Travis Hunter may not be cleared to play in Sunday’s New Orleans Saints preseason game. The rookie superstar was sidelined at Jacksonville Jaguars training camp practice on Friday with an upper-body injury, with head coach Liam Coen noncommittal on whether the two-way pro would be able to suit up for his second preseason matchup.
Last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Hunter spent 11 snaps lining up at wide receiver on offense with 8 reps on defense, mostly out wide at cornerback. This year’s second overall draft pick is attempting to become the NFL’s first full-time player on both offense and defense in decades. Outside of a few blocking specialists, we haven’t seen many players regularly run routes and guard them since guys like Mike Vrabel and Troy Brown did it in the early 2000’s, or Hunter’s former coach and mentor Deion Sanders back in the 1990’s.
Hunter won the Heisman Trophy last year after leading the Big 12 in receptions (96) and touchdown catches (15) with an impressive 1,258 receiving yards, while also recording 4 interceptions and 11 pass breakups, plus 36 combined tackles and a forced fumble. Pro Football Focus charting found that he logged 753 snaps on offense and 776 reps on defense.
So getting a look at him at the Caesars Superdome would be a treat, even though he’s playing for the opposing team. Talents like Hunter don’t come around often. We’ll see if he’s able to go, but the Jaguars could be better off resting him. Hunter is a key part of the plans first-year head coach Liam Coen drew up this offseason and it’s more important he plays in September than August. At the same time, you could argue he needs the reps. His status is something we’ll be monitoring going into Sunday’s game.
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