Coen: Jags looking to get Hunter more involved

Hunter did add a 5-yard “rush” on what sure looked like a pass attempt from Trevor Lawrence, but that’s neither here nor there. What is here is a rather predictable letdown after Hunter went into the Jaguars’ Week 7 bye with a pop-up effort in London. Although it was good to see Hunter contribute at all on offense, his role is too limited in an attack with too many mouths to feed to treat him as even a boom/bust WR4. That includes for Thursday’s short-week date with a Ravens team now missing starting quarterback Lamar Jackson.

In London, where Travis Hunter’s best games live, Hunter both caught a touchdown and picked off C.J. Stroud (his first of the season), becoming the first player to do both in the same game since Brian Dawkins in 2002. Hunter did all this on just nine offensive snaps. The skill is there to do this on offense, but the Jaguars have really been defense-first with his snaps this year. Depending on the post-bye buzz, Hunter could be a reasonable pick-up in fantasy leagues ahead of Week 8’s games.

Hunter saw just four offensive snaps to 39 defensive snaps against the Browns. With a good wide receiver room, Hunter was not playing offense as much and his utilization overlapped with Jakobi Meyers. It’s unlikely the 23-year-old achieves much fantasy relevancy without an injury to Meyers moving forward.

Shipley leaves the light on for offensive contributions, entertaining the idea that Hunter can chip in “a few hundred yards and a few touchdowns” this season as well. That said, the early indications for Hunter’s FLEX viability in managed leagues are pretty bleak. Stash him if you wish, but understand that starting him in Week 1 against the Browns could result in zero points.

Shipley estimates that Hunter has logged fewer than 10 reps at wide receiver in team drills during that span. Shipley said, “it seems like” the Jaguars are treating Hunter like their CB1. He also still thinks “there will be games where he logs 50 percent of the offensive snaps,” though. The biggest takeaway is that Hunter has an extremely wide range of potential outcomes, and he cannot be counted on to be FLEX-viable at this time.

To be clear, Thomas is the starting X-receiver and Hunter is rotating in behind him. Hunter has also been taking more defensive snaps lately, so if he is going to maintain an offensive role, a simplified downfield role makes sense. Regarding Thomas, DiRocco adds that he “was arguably the best player on the field” during organized team activities, has had a “great” training camp and is “showing some of the toughness and ball security that seemed to be missing last season.” With all of that in mind, losing snaps in three-wide receiver sets is a bit surprising. Thomas is extremely talented, but obvious questions remain as to his usage in the upcoming season. A boom-bust WR3 season could be on the way.

It was suggested by Sports Illustrated’s John Shipley that the Jaguars could be “tipping their hand” here, as he writes “it is clear the Jaguars believe they need to devote more practice time with Hunter before Week 1 at cornerback, which could be the biggest signal yet that the majority of his snaps against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 13 will be at cornerback.” Hunter will likely still be involved in the offense — he has worked with the offense every day before this — but it is notable that there was a shift here. Hunter will likely be just a dart throw WR5/WR6 in most standard leagues this year.

That would mean Thomas is set to play on the outside at the line of scrimmage. Parker Washington will presumably play in the slot with Jakobi Meyers and Travis Hunter fighting for flanker duties. As Wolfe notes, Liam Coen learned last year that going over the middle of the field and taking hits isn’t BTJ’s thing. Instead, he will likely be tasked with winning deep and beating man coverage. Wolfe noted Liam Coen’s roots in the Rams’ offense and compared BTJ’s role to that of Brandin Cooks and Sammy Watkins when they played in LA. Cooks topped 1,200 receiving yards in his first season with the Rams but fell below 600 in his second and final season with the team. Watkins, meanwhile, played just one season in LA and was also held under 600 yards. All signs point to Washington being the team’s No. 1 receiver this year.

Talking with Peter Schrager on his podcast, Coen almost laughed at the idea that Hunter might play exclusively on one side of the ball this year. Early offseason reports suggested Hunter might play primarily on defense after suffering a season-ending injury during his rookie season. Every subsequent report from local beats and all the quotes from the coaching staff have made it clear that Hunter remains a two-way player. Coen did note that they are still determining how much he will play on both sides of the ball, but it sounds like a part-time role on offense is the floor. Given the barrage of information suggesting Hunter will play on offense, a WR57 price tag for last year’s No. 2 overall continues to look absurdly cheap.

Hunter is working his way back from a 2025 knee injury and is expected to be a full go for the beginning of training camp, according to Wolfe. The 23-year-old is still going to play both sides of the ball, though Wolfe stated Hunter can be “unleashed” as a starter on defense and “the goal is to eventually have him play nearly all the snaps on defense in a particular game.” The Jaguars seem to like Hunter much better as a cornerback but he will still play offense with his wide receiver snaps fluctuating depending on the game. Hunter is attending meetings for both sides of the ball and will presumably practice both sides come training camp. He is expected to be healthy and ready to go by the time Jags veterans report to training camp in late July.