Lost in much of the offseason hype regarding Jacksonville Jaguars‘ first-round pick Travis Hunter was the fact that he still hadn’t signed his rookie deal. The cornerback and wide receiver participated in all offseason OTAs and mandatory minicamp practices, but he did it all without a contract.
Well, that problem has been solved. Hunter has officially signed his four-year deal with the Jaguars and it’s the first of its kind, according to Hunter’s agents.
“The deal — worth $46.65 million fully guaranteed — includes a $30.57 million signing bonus paid up front,” writes Michael DiRocco of ESPN.
“Hunter is the first non-quarterback not drafted first overall to get his signing bonus entirely up front, according to his agents, Adie von Gontard and Ray Haija of Young Money APAA Sports,” DiRocco continues.
The Jaguars moved up from No. 5 to the No. 2-overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to nab Hunter in what was seen as a very bold move by many NFL observers. They made the deal with the Cleveland Browns for the Jags’ No. 5 pick as well as their second-round pick, No. 126 and another first rounder in 2026.
But, the move makes sense since there is a new regime in town with general manager James Gladstone and head coach Liam Coen and they’d like to put their fingerprints on the roster.
How much will Hunter play on both sides of the ball?
There has been much speculation about how the Jaguars will use Hunter, and rightfully so. It’s one thing to play both ways in college, but doing it at the NFL level is an entirely different ballgame. Even players that did it well, like Deion Sanders, didn’t do it full time. It would be a Herculean task for Hunter to pull off especially since he’s never even played a down in the NFL.
It was easy for most to believe that he’d be primarily used as a wide receiver since that is where the bulk of his reps were spent this offseason. But, Gladstone said that’s not why they did it that way.
“I do think there’s a little bit of a misconception in that it’s wide receiver first, corner second as much as it is the learning methodology of wide receiver through this phase, and then continuing to trickle in more defense, since that is his primary background,” Gladstone said recently.
The Jags wanted to feed him the offense as much as possible because there is so much more nuance on that side of the ball.
“The windows for development in the NFL, they are few and far between, right? The offseason program is where it exists in its healthiest state,” Gladstone continued.
Two unsigned first-round picks remain
There are now just two first-round draft picks in the league that are still unsigned. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Cincinnati Bengals have one of them. Shemar Stewart is beyond frustrated with the business behaviors of the Bengals brass and he hasn’t even played for them yet. He might not even know where the bathrooms are at the facility yet and he’s already tired of their penny pinching and heel digging.
The other unsigned first rounder is the Denver Broncos‘ Jahdae Barron, a cornerback from the University of Texas. He’s now in a similar boat as Stewart and that might not be a boat the Broncos’ fans want him in.
It was a surprise that he slid all the way to No. 20-overall in the draft and the Broncos pounced on him. The team obviously saw extremely high value, because why else would they draft a cornerback when their other corner is Patrick Surtain II, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in the NFL?
Now that Hunter is signed, the glare on Stewart and Barron will begin to intensify.
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