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TRAVIS HUNTER WILL PLAY BOTH SIDES! · Duval Daily: A Jacksonville Jaguars Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jacksonville Jaguars fans welcome in to do vault daily presented by jingyag.com I'm Jordan Aluga, thanks so much for being here Thursday, May 7th right now we are talking about your Jacksonville Jaguars and their PR crusade this week to you know, let everybody know that Travis Hunter's not done playing both sides of the ball James Ladsdon, Jaguars GM he appeared on Rich Eisen talking about you know a lot of things but
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Travis Hunter was a big topic of discussion certainly, and Liam Cohen, they also had an interview with him and Kai Steven's talking about, both of them are saying, you know, there's absolutely no change in the plan for Travis Hunter to be playing as much as he can on both sides of the ball.
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the plan isn't
• 0:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: for him to play wide receiver less.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: The plan is for him to play corner back more than he did in 2025.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the deal here is, at the end of the season, James Gladstone talked about, you know, looking at the Jaguar's Dev Char, impending free agents, all that stuff, there you could probably assume and I'm paraphrasing that Travis Hunter will play more at corner.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, that wasn't entirely clear what he meant is it more at corner than wide receiver or more at corner than he did in 2025.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because when you actually look at his 2025 splits, he played just way more wide receiver than he did corner.
• 1:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so that's kind of the crux of the argument, the debate that people were having for months.
• 1:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, people have been slamming the Jaguar, saying, like, there's all sorts of opinions out there.
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, some people say, I can't believe you traded all this draft capital to go up and get a player.
• 1:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're not even going to play on both sides of the ball.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then there's the other opinions that,
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna ruin this kid by playing them on both sides of the ball.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then there's other opinions that he's not that good.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's crazy.
• 2:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is crazy all the opinions out there, but you know, opinions are like, you know what, everybody's got one.
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: So Travis Hunter on the defensive side of the ball played 162 reps, right?
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Offensively.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: He played 323, basically double offense to defense.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: There was a couple games where it was a little bit closer, but overall he was playing a lot more receiver than he was corner.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that is going to change.
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the injury, LCL, that happened in practice, you know, really unfortunate situation.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: But Liam Cohen, as soon as he said it, it's a minor setback for a major comeback.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that's their honest to goodness thought process.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that they would have traded what they traded for Travis Hunter to just be a corner that moonlights at wide receiver occasionally.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or vice versa.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: They gave up the draft capital for Travis Hunter to play both sides of the ball.
• 3:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's exactly what they want to do.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, how exactly do they want to manifest that in 2026?
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is a good question.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hunter right now is still limited in his recovery from the LCL.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's on schedule ahead of schedule, you know, Cohen said both things.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: So he's on schedule to be ready and in Gladstone confirmed this to Rich Eisen, full for training camp.
• 3:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And as long as he's full for training camp, I think that's a great spot to be in.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because let's be honest, you don't go very hard in any setting prior to training camp, right?
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So being limited for those settings, I think is just fine for Travis Hunter.
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Being able to get that out there on the grass a little bit, work a little bit and, you know,
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: making sure physically you're getting up to full speed like from an endurance and athletic standpoint and then mentally getting those reps in and the facility training room, meeting room, all that stuff, getting your strength back.
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I think that the other narrative here is that
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you look at the corner back room, compared to the wide receiver room.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, he's going to be the number one corner, which I think is true.
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't think that means he's going to be out there 100% of the time at corner.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, they resigned bus to Brown for a reason.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they like Jari and Jones.
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they like Christian Braswell and Keith Taylor.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they brought in a couple of undrafted for agents.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: They like, and they could also add via for agents, he's still.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's guys out there that make sense, it'll be cheap.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I do think he'll be their top corner and big situations for sure.
• 5:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: You look at the receiver room, it's a little more crowded.
• 5:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: No doubt about it.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jacobi Myers is getting paid by the jacks.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Brian Thomas Jr. is a player that they have come to bat for over and over and over again, despite all the trade rumors.
• 5:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then,
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Parker Washington emerged and is a player that a lot of fans analysts want the Jaguars to pay this off season.
• 5:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if they will.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know he's the type of player that they should want to pay, but how they view the salary you've got moving forward is going to be really interesting, because you have another pass catcher you probably want to pay Britain's strange.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Britain's strange is more important to this team.
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just strongly think that.
• 5:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't know that Parker Washington's gonna keep Travis Hunter off the field.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: When you think about their roles, I mean, Parker can play inside outside.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Hunter eventually can play wherever you want them to, as well, but he was focusing primarily
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: So like who was lining up most in the slot when Travis Hunter was injured towards the end of the year?
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's see here.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it was, it was Parker.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: He was lining up in the slot over 50% of the time down the stretch.
• 6:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: As Parker watched him consistently keeping Travis Hunter off the field in big moments.
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's the question you have to ask yourself, in my opinion.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: And again, I love the way Parker played last year.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he was awesome.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: But you made this investment in Travis Hunter, and let's not forget, you saw incredible plays from Travis Hunter.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Plays with the ball in his hands close to Linus Grimbage, making people miss.
• 7:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously plays down the field against the Rams.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: insane grab against the chiefs in a pivotal moment down the field.
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah.
• 7:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Jaguar's drafted Travis Hunter to play both sides of the ball.
• 7:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's exactly what is going to happen with him moving forward.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think a lot of people are going to be in crow.
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people make fun of the jags for making that trade.
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people are crushing the Jaguar's for this draft class as well.
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just don't see it that way.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Travis Hunter, being able to acquire Travis Hunter, who is like the best player I've ever seen since I've started following the NFL draft, covering the NFL draft, which that was like a decade ago at this point.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Best player I've ever seen.
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I remember seeing him as a freshman at Jackson State and just like, holy,
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm really excited to see him play.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I really am.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: And as far as the workload stuff, if injuries do become a more consistent problem, then you have to talk about it, right?
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't think his injury had anything to do with workload.
• 8:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think it was just unfortunate situation I have.
• 8:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, it happens, right?
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: People's knees get injured all the time, especially when they're playing football.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Hunter, the biggest takeaway, the jag wars are on a mission to let everyone know that Travis Hunter is still playing both sides of the ball, and I think pretty much everything they've said publicly, and that fashion has been true, like not just about Travis Hunter would in general, they've been very open publicly about their plans, not their schematic plans necessarily, but even some of that they've given up pretty, you know, they told us Travis Hunter was going to be trained as a slot receiver.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: they didn't have to come out and say that, but they did.
• 9:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: So they've been very transparent about it.
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that there's no reason to not take what they've said this week at phase value and I'm excited to see it because I do think he can be a lockdown corner and a really, really talented receiver.
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he could be a number one at both.
• 9:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if he'll have the ability or
• 9:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if the Jaguars will allow him to play full full time at both to where he's like a all pro corner and receiver.
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he has that ability.
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: No one's ever really done it at this level, but I'm not betting against Travis Hunter.
• 10:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let me know how you're feeling about this situation in the comment section below.
• 10:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content, please like and subscribe.
• 10:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Y'all have a good one.