The Travis Hunter experiment hasn’t gone exactly as planned for the Jacksonville Jaguars. In hindsight, his entire situation was handled poorly, but we’ve should’ve known that.
General manager James Gladstone suggested after the NFL Draft that part of the reason he traded up from No. 5 to No. 2 to get Hunter was because they’d be getting two players and not one. That should have been a huge red flag.
So far, Hunter hasn’t been a great wide receiver or cornerback. Not that he’s been bad at either one, but his usage is spotty and he’s kind of performed like a fourth-round pick at both.
Head coach Liam Coen intimated Monday that that’s about to change following the bye week.
“It definitely gave us an opportunity as a staff to look at how we can continue to use him,” Coen said of Hunter.
“You definitely look at how much more can he handle, how much more can we put him in a position to be successful on both offense and defense and what does that look like?” Coen said.
Travis Hunter has tried to handle enough
Unless you were one of the ones pounding the table for the Jags not to try to make this guy a Hall of Famer on both sides of the ball immediately, then you look foolish. Looking back, how could any kid possibly handle learning two different positions on offense and defense? He was fed a bit of each and they tried to ease him in, but I don’t care how smart he is (and he is smart), no rookie is going to digest all of that mentally and physically.
Based on Coen’s comments, it sounds like he wants to work him into the offense more.
“You look at the end of the last game against the Rams with he and [quarterback] Trevor [Lawrence] building on a connection and making some plays towards the end of the game,” Coen said. “It was a little out of reach at the time, but you’re still seeing competitive throws and catches in live action, which is something we’ve needed.”
Seriously, just pick a side. And right now, that side is offense.
Travis Hunter can help offense “stay ahead of the chains”
On Monday, Coen also emphasized the need for the offense to “stay ahead of the chains.” Meaning, do a better job on first and second downs and make third downs more manageable.
“Offensively, when you’re on schedule, usually good things have occurred and when you’re off schedule, it’s tough sledding,” Coen said.
He also emphasized the need to run the ball more in general. Through the first few weeks of the season, running back Travis Etienne had been on a tear and after four games was third in the NFL in rushing. Lately? Not so much.
“I’ve got to call more runs in general,” Coen said. “When we run the football, we’re a little bit more balanced. It’s a matter of winning first and second down. When you start drives and you have a run, you get a hold and your first and 20 … now I’m probably not going to run it on first. You’re trying to just look for the balance. It’s something that we’ve got to get back to being able to do a little bit more.”
Maybe they can get Hunter to run some reverses?
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