Through three weeks, Jaguars No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter has been on the field for 59 percent of the team’s offensive snaps and 47 percent of defensive snaps.
He’s recorded 10 catches for 76 yards, though just two of his receptions have resulted in first downs.
On the other side, Hunter has made nine total tackles and one pass defensed.
By having to split his time, Hunter may not be getting everything from a meeting standpoint to put him in the best possible position to succeed. That’s something head coach Liam Coen has thought about, particularly as it relates to alignments and motions.
“I wouldn’t say he’s behind,” Coen said in his Wednesday press conference when asked about Hunter. “I think we can probably do a better job of helping him in some ways. We had a great talk with Trav after this past game in terms of just man, like, alright, how can we help you and [where can we] put you, because what is he learning? It’s a lot. So, we’ve got to, I think, be a little bit more diligent in terms of putting him in positions to maybe not have to do as many moving parts so that we can just let him go play.
“You saw he catches the out cut the other day and makes multiple people miss, so that’s what we’re trying to continue to push, and that’s got to be on us as well. Yeah, he has a hand in it for sure, absolutely, but I do think we can help him more.”
Part of that is limiting what positions Hunter is playing at this point. Coen said the Jaguars don’t want to ask the rookie to learn too many things at once from the receiver standpoint, though that will likely change as Hunter gains more experience.
“I don’t think it’s fair right now to say, ‘hey dude, go learn Z [receiver], and X, and 12, and this and that,” Coen said. “It’s like, man, we’ve got to make sure he can really go and execute what we’re asking him to do first and foremost, which is play F and play corner.
“So, I think as we go and as he goes, I’ve got to believe that it’ll continue to do this [upwards motion].”
In Sunday’s win over the Texans, Hunter played more defensive snaps than offensive snaps. We’ll see if that trend continues when Jacksonville plays San Francisco on Sunday.
