Why Travis Hunter's two-way ability will be a work in progress for Jaguars
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How did they use Travis Hunter today?
What was he like, I know you said maybe that limited him a little bit, because of the hard fall he took.
How are they using him?
Did they use him like the preseason game, where it was like, oh, first team offense, second team defense.
Mm, OK, now we can figure out a little bit about his usage.
So he began with defensive snaps today.
It was primarily he was out there with uh the defense initially, but they did rotate him, and, you know, he got good usage, but when I, I had a chance to speak to somebody.
Um, in the building about where this whole thing was going forward with Travis.
And, you know, two things that I thought were really interesting are, he agreed the data set for how much he can be used is, there's no real data set right now because you have to throw out Colorado.
What happened in college gave him the opportunity to step in the NFL and try to play on both sides of the ball, try to start on both sides of the ball and, and play a high number of snaps.
But because the NFL's level of intensity and study, and speed, and all these other things are different, it corrupts that entire data set.
Now, it's like, they're building the data set now.
They're watching now.
They're studying the GPS now, and they're learning really what the true data set is ultimately going to be.
And I would argue they won't really have it until they're halfway through the season or maybe through the full 2025 season will they actually understand how exactly they can rotate him.
And the second thing that the person I was speaking to talked about and that really hit me was, you know, they're going to use the rotation in the best way possible that affords them the ability to win games.
And to do that, sometimes you have to put an opposing team off-kilter, whether it's offensively or defensively.
So you have opponents who come in going, OK, based on the first 3 weeks of the season or 4 weeks or whatever, this is what we're gonna get from Travis Hunter.
But the Jaguars decide, no, you know what, 85% of his usage is going to be on the defensive side of the ball, and the opponent's not prepared for that.
Or 100% of the usage is going to be on the offensive side of the ball.
And again, that's a mismatch that you create that maybe the opponent isn't necessarily expecting.
So, it's just interesting to see how they're really working through this.
James Gladstone has said, and Andrew Barry, who obviously worked with him, and to make the deal, Browns, GM, they have both said; others have said as well.
Um, people with the pro day, for example, at Boulder, the guy doesn't get tired.
Like he, he could run 115 plays, he doesn't get tired.
Everybody agrees that can't happen in the NFL.
Uh, Bucky Brooks, uh, friend of the program, NFL Network draft analyst, and also the Jaguars sideline reporter.
He was up in the booth doing coloring.
The preseason TV broadcast as well.
You know, Bucky has noted that the offensive side of the ball that people thought would just be easy.
I mean, you could say he's wide receiver one.
It is a transition for Travis Hunter because, hey, we're not just holding up cards on the sideline like you're in Boulder, right?
You don't just have like a reasonably simple route tree where he's the focal point of the offense anyway, right?
Should look right Travis throwing the ball.
Not that everything is that simple.
Please don't misunderstand me, but that when you're trying to assimilate on both sides of the ball as a rookie, it's not the physical.
Excuse me, that is in any way going to slow down Travis Hunter.
It's just the overwhelming nature of learning the intricacies Frank, of both sides of the ball.
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