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Travis Hunter ... MVP Candidate?! · Duval Daily: A Jacksonville Jaguars Podcast

• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome in to Duval Daily, presented by Genjag.com.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Jordan Delugher.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks so much for being here Friday, July, a teeth final show of the week.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Final show before training camp week, which is obviously very exciting.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: But right now we're taking a look at an NFL.com article.
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Pretty interesting.
• 0:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Twenty twenty five NFL MVP, one candidate from each AFC team.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Who is Eric Eddome and I fell lead draft writer going to select for the Jaguars.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: That is the question and the answer is Travis Hunter.
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to read through this is pretty fascinating.
• 0:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Travis Hunter.
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: A rookie wide receiver slash cornerback is Eric at home's top pick from the Jaguars to be an MVP candidate.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, so let's take a look.
• 1:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jim Brown is the only rookie to win an MVP award in NFL history, so I fully recognize how unlikely it would be for Hunter to become the first player in nearly seventy years to accomplish the feat.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: The expectations for Hunter appear to be already unfairly high.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Web of most rookies, including quarterbacks, yet if the two way player can pull off the NFL equivalent to his twenty twenty four season at Colorado, he might break the paradigm of what being a league MVP looks like.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: He played more than seven hundred fifty snaps on each side of the ball last year, unexpectedly taking home the Heisman trophy.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if it was unexpected.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: And perhaps setting the stage for a unique NFL career that we don't yet know the Jaguar's detailed plans for him.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hunter setting wants to play full-time on both sides of the ball.
• 1:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And who are we to doubt him?
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: There are more measured MVP candidates in Jacksonville, including Trevor Lawrence, Brian Thomas Jr, Trayvon Walker, and Josh Heinz Allen.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: But where is the fun in that?
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: It might take something like nine hundred receiving yards and eight to ten touchdowns on offense.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I figure plus four or more interceptions and other big plays on defense for Hunter to even enter the MVP discussion.
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: He could be the longest of long shots, but Hunter is the most fascinating possibility here.
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I mean, I agree.
• 2:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's fascinating.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: So
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know exactly like his criteria for picking the MVP from each team.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would say, Travis Hunter is probably the most likely player, not named Trevor Lawrence to win MVP.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not saying Trevor Lawrence is a better player than Travis Hunter.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, we just don't know, right?
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the fact of the matter is,
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Travis Hunter will have to do some insanely unprecedented things to win MVP.
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like Ed Holmes says, I mean, you're talking about, and these numbers are completely arbitrary.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have no idea what it would take.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I do think playing reasonably consistent on defense and having the turnover is a critical part of this.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it four?
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it three?
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it three and two pick sixes?
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right?
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like we don't know.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then offensively I do think he's got to produce at a high level.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would guess he would probably need more than a thousand receiving yards.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think when you hit that one thousand yard mark, a lot of people kind of perk up and they're like, wait, so you're telling me, get a thousand yards, ten touchdowns and play defense and picked off passes.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then you're starting to talk about somebody who could break the mold and potentially be an MVP candidate.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to doubt Travis Hunter.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he's going to be very good on both sides of the ball, but I don't think it's fair to like, we don't even know how much he's going to plan on both sides of the ball yet.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: We really don't.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think their expectation is for him to play a lot on both sides, but we don't know exactly the plan.
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: We don't know how that plan will come together if they have to pivot, do anything like that.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I believe in Travis Hunter in a big way.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's no question about it.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he's going to have a good rookie year plan both sides of the ball.
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: The type of statistical output that he would have to achieve to beat out some of the top quarterbacks seems just not very likely.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And Erica at home reasonably did say he might be the longest of long shots.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, I do think he has a better chance to win MVP than an edge player or a wide receiver only.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't think he has a better chance to win MVP in twenty twenty five than Trevor Lawrence.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I know people can point to Trevor Lawrence's lack of touchdown throughout his career, whatever you want to say.
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Baker may feel.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Last year through forty one touchdown passes in Liam Cohen's offense, forty five hundred yards in Liam Cohen's offense.
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Trevor Lawrence is a much more talented player than Baker may feel.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: The previous season high for Baker Mayfield and touchdowns was twenty-eight.
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Previous season high for Baker Mayfield and passing yards was four thousand forty-four.
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: To me, if I was having to pick an MVP candidate for the Jack Wars and most likely MVP candidate, it would absolutely be Trevor Lawrence by a wide margin and then it would be Travis Hunter.
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: because the sheer fact that Travis Hunter will play both sides of the ball gives him a better chance, in my opinion, than a receiver like Brian Thomas Jr., or an adressor like Trayvom Walker or Josh Hinds Allen.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right?
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: The sheer fact that he has the potential to be a legitimate starting contributor on both sides of the ball and have an impact on what I think will be a really well run offense
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: and a defense that should be improved.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Partially thanks to him.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I mean, he's definitely my number two.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that he's a longer shot than Brian Thomas Jr.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: of Traywell Walker, Josh Hines Allen, who Eric at home mentions saying that those would be more measured in VP candidates.
• 6:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that that's true.
• 6:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think the truth of the matter is Trevor Lawrence is the number one in VP candidate for the Jaguars in twenty twenty five and Travis Hunter would be number two.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it likely that either of them is going to win?
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: No.
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Bottom line.
• 7:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, there's superstars in this league in markets that are bigger with teams that are more high profile.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think both of them are capable of playing at that level.
• 7:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if either would win it if they're in like a tight race with a
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: You name it Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, whoever you want to say, who's a bigger name at quarterback.
• 7:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Higher profile, Joe Burrow, right?
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of where I'm at.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that this is really cool to think about.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like what would Travis Hunter have to do?
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: My guess is, a thousand yards, seven plus touchdowns,
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: three interceptions with consistent play on defense to enter the conversation.
• 8:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think if he does that, he probably deserves it.
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not doubting that he can do it.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I still think, with the most likely outcome for, or the most, like, you know, if there's like a million billion different parallel universes right now, what's the most likely outcome for a Jaguar to win MVP in one of those universes?
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's probably Trevor Lawrence throwing like, forty plus touchdowns, and also using his legs to get in the ends on several times.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the Jaguar is one of a bunch of games.
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let me know what y'all think in the comments section below.
• 8:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content, please like and subscribe.
• 8:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Y'all have a good one.