November 24, 2025 • 10 mins
Travis Hunter: Jaguars Two-Way Player Plan Continues
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the deep Dive. Today, we are focusing
all our attention on one player, one team, and one
really high stakes decision. It's a choice that could redefine
a franchise and maybe even a whole position in the NFL.
We're heading to Jacksonville to unpack the future of Travis Hunter.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And this is really a deep dive into risk, into investment,
and frankly into physical durability. The whole thing is anchored
by this new report from NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport,
and it confirms that even with the season ending injury,
the Jaguars are absolutely sticking.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
To their plan, the two way player plan.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Exactly utilizing Hunter as this transcendent talent their top wide
receiver in their matchup cornerback.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
That confirmation is just massive, because this isn't just about
an injured player, right, It's about whether this kind of
historic dual role is even sustainable in the modern NFL.
To really get why the Jaguars are doubling down, you
have to go back to what they gave up to
get them.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Precisely, this wasn't a casual decision. They didn't just spend
high capital, They spent future.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Okay, let's unpack that investment, because it really is the
defining factor here. What does it cost them to move
up and grab Hunter at number two overall?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Oh? The cost was It was steep. It took multiple
draft picks. But the real anchor of that trade, the
piece that makes you take a breath, was a twenty
twenty six first.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Round pick plus twenty twenty six first rounder.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You just can't overstate the weight of that. When you
trade a future first for a rookie, you're signaling two things.
One this almost unprecedented confidence in a player's immediate impact,
and two you're making a huge wager that your team
is going to stay competitive so that pick doesn't end
up being you know, top five.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
It's the ultimate trade off, isn't it. You trade future
flexibility for what you believe is immediate certainty. But that
high risk bet just hit a pretty big snag with
his injury. So what exactly did the sources confirm about
the plan? Now?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
The core message is completely unwavering. Sources are confirming the
Jaguars plan to continue using him as a two way player,
top wide receiver and matchup corner even with the big
knee surgery. Now in the rearview mirror.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Wait, so let me get this straight. They're sticking with
the dual plan after a season ending non contact injury.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I mean, doesn't that just scream that maybe the workload
is the problem, that it's unsustainable.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
It's the most compelling counter narrative. The team is basically
saying this was bad luck, not bad management, and the
report really backs that up. It reveals what they were
thinking before the injury on October thirtieth, before he got hurt,
they were planning to use him more, not less more. Yes,
the belief inside the building was and I'm quoting here,
(02:36):
that he was about to truly go off on the field.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Is that's more than confidence, that's aggressive faith. They weren't
just dipping a toe in the water. They were about
to fully unleash him. And to justify that, you have
to look at the production they were already seeing.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Absolutely, the performance was already validating the huge investment. If
you want like the perfect snapshot of what he can do,
you have to look at the Week seven game in
London against.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
The Rams on October nineteen. That wasn't just a good game.
It felt like a showcase of everything they'd gambled on.
It was so on the defensive side, what's his assignment?
Just go cover a star receiver DeVante Adams for a.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Rookie who's only playing corner part time. That is a
massive ask.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
A total trial by fire, and he did well. He
showed the technique, the football IQ, everything you need against
an elite guy like that.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
But then you know, a few plays later he has
to completely flip a switch in his brain, go from
covering routes to running him and offensively, in that same game,
he puts up career highs eight catches, one hundred and
one receiving yards, and he gets his first career touchdown.
The cognitive load there is just immense.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
That's the part that's so unique. Most guys spend all
week on one playbook, one side of the ball. Hunter
has to master two entire systems. He has to switch
his whole mindset on every single drive. And the fact
that he was breaking one hundred yards receiving while still
handling those high leverage defensive jobs, well that's what convinced
the team to ramp it up.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Let's get into those specifics on his usage, because the
snap count tells a really interesting story.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, before the injury, the ratio was pretty distinct. He
logged three hundred and twenty three snaps on offense and
one hundred and fifty eight snaps on defense, So he
was basically a full time, high priority receiver but a
very specific part time cornerback.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So roughly a two to one split favoring offense. Yeah,
and the plan you mentioned was to start bumping that defensive.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Number up exactly. His defensive assignments were set to get
more complex, more frequent. This wasn't just you know, Hago's
stand in the secondary. This was strategic.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
What does that mean? Like what kind of situations.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
We're talking about? Things like tracking a team's top receiver
on key downs, think red zone scenarios or crucial third downs.
Snaps were one mistake costs you the game. And you're
asking a guy who just ran a deep route on
offense to immediately go into locked on man coverage. It's
an incredible ask.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
What's fascinating here is just the sheer level of trust
they showed. Most teams would probably try to protect an
asset they paid that much for. The Jaguars saw the
results and decided to go all in.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
They realized that's where the real turn on investment is
in that versatility. If he can shut down their best
receiver and be your number one target, he is essentially
two first round players for the price of one. They
were betting that his unique ability would translate directly to wins, and.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
That bed hit a brick wall on October thirtieth. Let's
shift to the injury itself, which happened so quietly in practice,
A non contact injury.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, the kind that just makes a coach's stomach drop.
It was a total gut punch. At first. You know,
there was some hope it was minor, maybe a tweak
a couple weeks out, but once there's swelling, you have
to wait, and that waiting period is always just agonizing.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And the surgery that followed revealed the real damage. Yeah,
an isolated lcl TEIR, which carries a significant recovery. We're
talking a six month recovery timeline. His rookie season was
just over.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And that injury immediately forced the coaching staff into, you know,
crisis management mode. Head coach Liam Cohen had to face
the media on November twelfth, and he was very, very
careful with his words, right, refus used.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
To talk about future plans, called any evaluation very premature.
He kept saying their focus was on the next opponent,
the Chargers, and that they'd look at Hunter's situation at
the end of the season.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
That's the classic coach response, right It's text abook for
managing expectations. When a key player is in rehab, you
don't want to add pressure or define his future while
he's still recovering. The staff knows the plan, but publicly
you have to preach patients.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And that contrast between the internal confirmation from the Rappaport
report and the public ambiguity from Cohen. That's the strategic
tension right there.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Exactly. They're managing this incredibly high risk asset while also
trying to protect the player's mental and physical recovery. But
Cohen did offer that necessary counterbalance. While he was vague
on the workload, he was totally clear in his praise.
He talked about his confidence in Hunter's makeup and the person,
the competitor, the athlete. You praise the character when you
can't yet talk about the on field plan.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Okay, so let's move to the medical side, because the
reporting here actually provided some really good news about his
long term outlook. We should explain why an isolated LCL
tear well serious, is much more manageable than other knee injuries.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
That's a crucial point. The keyword is isolated. A lot
of times with knee injuries, you're talking about a torn
ACL were a combination of ligaments. An isolated tear of
the LCL that's the colateral ligament. It has a much clearer,
more predictable recovery path.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And we actually have a perfect recent example of a
top receiver coming back from this exact same injury. That
must be a huge relee for the Jaguars medical team.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It has to be Chiefs wide receiver Rashi Rice suffered
the exact same LCL injury last season, and the results
since he's come back have been incredibly encouraging. He's shown
absolutely no long term ill effects.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
The numbers totally back that up. You look at a
three game stretch after he got back, Rice had twenty catches,
two hundred and fifteen yards and four total touchdowns. That's
top tier production.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
That precedent provides the medical reassurance you need to stick
with a high stakes plan like this. The expectation is
a full one hundred percent recovery for Hunter. So the
focus just shifts to making that six month rehab flawless.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
And the sources confirmed the logistics are all about team oversight.
Tell us about the medical team involved here.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, he'll do his entire rehab in Jacksonville. That keeps
him with the team's staff and most importantly close to
the team doctor doctor Kevin Kaplan. The surgery itself was
actually done in Dallas by a top specialist, doctor Dan Cooper,
but this coordinated approach specialist for the surgery team staff
for the rehab is the gold standard. It maximizes the
continuity of care.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
So we circle all the way back to the big
picture for twenty twenty six, the high risk gamble is
still on, what does the final confirmed plan for him
look like.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
The plan is definitive. He returns as a top receiver
and a matchup corner. But if we connect this to
the bigger picture, Coach Coin added a little detail. He said,
part of Hunter's future will involve looking at where the
team needs him most.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Ah, that's a key modifier. So the dual role set,
but the snap ratio that three twenty three offense to
one fifty eight defense, that might not be set in
stone exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It implies flexibility. If they lose a starting cornerback for
a few months, maybe hunters defensive snaps jump from thirty
percent to fifty percent.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Or if another receiver gets hurt, his offensive targets could skyrocket.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
It creates this incredible strategic elasticity. They have a keat
code who can plug holes on either side of the
ball at an elite level. But that flexibility comes at
a cost, right. It demands this constant, high intensity adaptation
from one player week after week.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
This has been a really fascinating deep dive. The Jaguars
made this staggering investment with that future first rounder. They
saw incredible production, then face the ultimate setback, and now
they are doubling down, sticking with the high risk, high
reward approach. The risk is obvious, but the potential reward
a true two way superstar is just too tempting for
them to walk away from.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
And the final analysis really is all about that tension.
They've committed a massive long term asset to this experiment
and now they're just banking on exceptional durability to sustain
a skill set that history suggestion lead to burnout or
another injury, that demands are just immense.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
And that leads to the final provocative question we want
to leave you with, because this issue isn't going away
next season, given the huge draft capital they spent and
the physical toll of ramping up his usage on both
sides of the ball. How long can an organization realistically
sustain a plan that asks one player to be elite
at two of the sport's most demanding positions. How long
(10:30):
before they're forced by either health or by contract talks
to finally choose one side of the ball for his
long term health and maximum impact. That's the dilemma that
will follow Travis Hunter and the Jaguars for the rest
of his career.
Welcome back to the deep Dive. Today, we are focusing
all our attention on one player, one team, and one
really high stakes decision. It's a choice that could redefine
a franchise and maybe even a whole position in the NFL.
We're heading to Jacksonville to unpack the future of Travis Hunter.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And this is really a deep dive into risk, into investment,
and frankly into physical durability. The whole thing is anchored
by this new report from NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport,
and it confirms that even with the season ending injury,
the Jaguars are absolutely sticking.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
To their plan, the two way player plan.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Exactly utilizing Hunter as this transcendent talent their top wide
receiver in their matchup cornerback.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
That confirmation is just massive, because this isn't just about
an injured player, right, It's about whether this kind of
historic dual role is even sustainable in the modern NFL.
To really get why the Jaguars are doubling down, you
have to go back to what they gave up to
get them.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Precisely, this wasn't a casual decision. They didn't just spend
high capital, They spent future.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Okay, let's unpack that investment, because it really is the
defining factor here. What does it cost them to move
up and grab Hunter at number two overall?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Oh? The cost was It was steep. It took multiple
draft picks. But the real anchor of that trade, the
piece that makes you take a breath, was a twenty
twenty six first.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Round pick plus twenty twenty six first rounder.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You just can't overstate the weight of that. When you
trade a future first for a rookie, you're signaling two things.
One this almost unprecedented confidence in a player's immediate impact,
and two you're making a huge wager that your team
is going to stay competitive so that pick doesn't end
up being you know, top five.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
It's the ultimate trade off, isn't it. You trade future
flexibility for what you believe is immediate certainty. But that
high risk bet just hit a pretty big snag with
his injury. So what exactly did the sources confirm about
the plan? Now?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
The core message is completely unwavering. Sources are confirming the
Jaguars plan to continue using him as a two way player,
top wide receiver and matchup corner even with the big
knee surgery. Now in the rearview mirror.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Wait, so let me get this straight. They're sticking with
the dual plan after a season ending non contact injury.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I mean, doesn't that just scream that maybe the workload
is the problem, that it's unsustainable.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
It's the most compelling counter narrative. The team is basically
saying this was bad luck, not bad management, and the
report really backs that up. It reveals what they were
thinking before the injury on October thirtieth, before he got hurt,
they were planning to use him more, not less more. Yes,
the belief inside the building was and I'm quoting here,
(02:36):
that he was about to truly go off on the field.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Is that's more than confidence, that's aggressive faith. They weren't
just dipping a toe in the water. They were about
to fully unleash him. And to justify that, you have
to look at the production they were already seeing.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Absolutely, the performance was already validating the huge investment. If
you want like the perfect snapshot of what he can do,
you have to look at the Week seven game in
London against.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
The Rams on October nineteen. That wasn't just a good game.
It felt like a showcase of everything they'd gambled on.
It was so on the defensive side, what's his assignment?
Just go cover a star receiver DeVante Adams for a.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Rookie who's only playing corner part time. That is a
massive ask.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
A total trial by fire, and he did well. He
showed the technique, the football IQ, everything you need against
an elite guy like that.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
But then you know, a few plays later he has
to completely flip a switch in his brain, go from
covering routes to running him and offensively, in that same game,
he puts up career highs eight catches, one hundred and
one receiving yards, and he gets his first career touchdown.
The cognitive load there is just immense.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
That's the part that's so unique. Most guys spend all
week on one playbook, one side of the ball. Hunter
has to master two entire systems. He has to switch
his whole mindset on every single drive. And the fact
that he was breaking one hundred yards receiving while still
handling those high leverage defensive jobs, well that's what convinced
the team to ramp it up.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Let's get into those specifics on his usage, because the
snap count tells a really interesting story.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, before the injury, the ratio was pretty distinct. He
logged three hundred and twenty three snaps on offense and
one hundred and fifty eight snaps on defense, So he
was basically a full time, high priority receiver but a
very specific part time cornerback.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So roughly a two to one split favoring offense. Yeah,
and the plan you mentioned was to start bumping that defensive.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Number up exactly. His defensive assignments were set to get
more complex, more frequent. This wasn't just you know, Hago's
stand in the secondary. This was strategic.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
What does that mean? Like what kind of situations.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
We're talking about? Things like tracking a team's top receiver
on key downs, think red zone scenarios or crucial third downs.
Snaps were one mistake costs you the game. And you're
asking a guy who just ran a deep route on
offense to immediately go into locked on man coverage. It's
an incredible ask.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
What's fascinating here is just the sheer level of trust
they showed. Most teams would probably try to protect an
asset they paid that much for. The Jaguars saw the
results and decided to go all in.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
They realized that's where the real turn on investment is
in that versatility. If he can shut down their best
receiver and be your number one target, he is essentially
two first round players for the price of one. They
were betting that his unique ability would translate directly to wins, and.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
That bed hit a brick wall on October thirtieth. Let's
shift to the injury itself, which happened so quietly in practice,
A non contact injury.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, the kind that just makes a coach's stomach drop.
It was a total gut punch. At first. You know,
there was some hope it was minor, maybe a tweak
a couple weeks out, but once there's swelling, you have
to wait, and that waiting period is always just agonizing.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And the surgery that followed revealed the real damage. Yeah,
an isolated lcl TEIR, which carries a significant recovery. We're
talking a six month recovery timeline. His rookie season was
just over.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And that injury immediately forced the coaching staff into, you know,
crisis management mode. Head coach Liam Cohen had to face
the media on November twelfth, and he was very, very
careful with his words, right, refus used.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
To talk about future plans, called any evaluation very premature.
He kept saying their focus was on the next opponent,
the Chargers, and that they'd look at Hunter's situation at
the end of the season.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
That's the classic coach response, right It's text abook for
managing expectations. When a key player is in rehab, you
don't want to add pressure or define his future while
he's still recovering. The staff knows the plan, but publicly
you have to preach patients.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And that contrast between the internal confirmation from the Rappaport
report and the public ambiguity from Cohen. That's the strategic
tension right there.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Exactly. They're managing this incredibly high risk asset while also
trying to protect the player's mental and physical recovery. But
Cohen did offer that necessary counterbalance. While he was vague
on the workload, he was totally clear in his praise.
He talked about his confidence in Hunter's makeup and the person,
the competitor, the athlete. You praise the character when you
can't yet talk about the on field plan.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Okay, so let's move to the medical side, because the
reporting here actually provided some really good news about his
long term outlook. We should explain why an isolated LCL
tear well serious, is much more manageable than other knee injuries.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
That's a crucial point. The keyword is isolated. A lot
of times with knee injuries, you're talking about a torn
ACL were a combination of ligaments. An isolated tear of
the LCL that's the colateral ligament. It has a much clearer,
more predictable recovery path.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And we actually have a perfect recent example of a
top receiver coming back from this exact same injury. That
must be a huge relee for the Jaguars medical team.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It has to be Chiefs wide receiver Rashi Rice suffered
the exact same LCL injury last season, and the results
since he's come back have been incredibly encouraging. He's shown
absolutely no long term ill effects.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
The numbers totally back that up. You look at a
three game stretch after he got back, Rice had twenty catches,
two hundred and fifteen yards and four total touchdowns. That's
top tier production.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
That precedent provides the medical reassurance you need to stick
with a high stakes plan like this. The expectation is
a full one hundred percent recovery for Hunter. So the
focus just shifts to making that six month rehab flawless.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
And the sources confirmed the logistics are all about team oversight.
Tell us about the medical team involved here.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, he'll do his entire rehab in Jacksonville. That keeps
him with the team's staff and most importantly close to
the team doctor doctor Kevin Kaplan. The surgery itself was
actually done in Dallas by a top specialist, doctor Dan Cooper,
but this coordinated approach specialist for the surgery team staff
for the rehab is the gold standard. It maximizes the
continuity of care.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
So we circle all the way back to the big
picture for twenty twenty six, the high risk gamble is
still on, what does the final confirmed plan for him
look like.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
The plan is definitive. He returns as a top receiver
and a matchup corner. But if we connect this to
the bigger picture, Coach Coin added a little detail. He said,
part of Hunter's future will involve looking at where the
team needs him most.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Ah, that's a key modifier. So the dual role set,
but the snap ratio that three twenty three offense to
one fifty eight defense, that might not be set in
stone exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It implies flexibility. If they lose a starting cornerback for
a few months, maybe hunters defensive snaps jump from thirty
percent to fifty percent.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Or if another receiver gets hurt, his offensive targets could skyrocket.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
It creates this incredible strategic elasticity. They have a keat
code who can plug holes on either side of the
ball at an elite level. But that flexibility comes at
a cost, right. It demands this constant, high intensity adaptation
from one player week after week.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
This has been a really fascinating deep dive. The Jaguars
made this staggering investment with that future first rounder. They
saw incredible production, then face the ultimate setback, and now
they are doubling down, sticking with the high risk, high
reward approach. The risk is obvious, but the potential reward
a true two way superstar is just too tempting for
them to walk away from.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
And the final analysis really is all about that tension.
They've committed a massive long term asset to this experiment
and now they're just banking on exceptional durability to sustain
a skill set that history suggestion lead to burnout or
another injury, that demands are just immense.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
And that leads to the final provocative question we want
to leave you with, because this issue isn't going away
next season, given the huge draft capital they spent and
the physical toll of ramping up his usage on both
sides of the ball. How long can an organization realistically
sustain a plan that asks one player to be elite
at two of the sport's most demanding positions. How long
(10:30):
before they're forced by either health or by contract talks
to finally choose one side of the ball for his
long term health and maximum impact. That's the dilemma that
will follow Travis Hunter and the Jaguars for the rest
of his career.
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