The Jacksonville Jaguars drafted cornerback and wide receiver Travis Hunter with the intent of playing him on both sides of the ball in the NFL. No NFL player has played full-time on offense and defense since the 1960s, but the Jaguars have a plan for how they intend to use and prepare him to play both ways.
Jaguars coach Liam Coen said after the NFL draft that their plan was for Hunter to primarily get started on offense while getting to learn and practice on the defensive side of the ball. Though Hunter was back practicing with the offense on Tuesday, he did see time to on defense during practice last Wednesday.
"It was good," Coen said of Hunter's time on defense last week. "He's still learning, he's been learning a ton defensively and offensively as we know. ... It wasn't a ton of 11-on-11, 7-on-[7]. It was more fundamentals, techniques, communication. That was what that last Wednesday was. He's been learning with those guys and meeting with them extra as he's needed to."
DE Travon Walker, HC Liam Coen, and DC Anthony Campanile meet with the media.@Dream_Finders | #DUUUVAL https://t.co/33mk0oW4gm
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) May 27, 2025
Though Hunter is not practicing on defense every day, he does meet with his defensive coaches each time he practices on offense, helping him stay up to speed mentally on both sides of the ball.
"He still meets defensively every day that he's on offense so he's getting the mental part of it and being able to catch up on some of the communication, some of the corrections off the film from the defensive side of the ball," Coen told reporters. "He's getting a lot of the mental, it would probably be unfair to put him out on the grass, do both and ask him to go do that and see success."
At this point, Coen does not plan to have Hunter practice on both sides of the ball in the same day, but he does see that likely happening once the regular season comes around.
"In season, he's going to probably have to just because it's the way practices are organized," Coen said. "He's definitely going to have to do that. I envision maybe a third down day reps on defense where obviously he's playing receiver, but he's also going to have to get some reps on defense and be able to do some of those things. It will come up, absolutely. Just from the teaching and the initial stages of it, don't really see that being something we'll do anytime soon."
Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile added Tuesday that the team's plan for Hunter has been going great so far, and shared praise for the young two-way star.
"He's a special guy because he's really, really a bright guy," Campanile told reporters. "... All the coaches have been impressed with his ability to retain the information. ... He's done a great job with that and I can't imagine another guy being better suited to handle that. Travis is certainly suited to do that."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Liam Coen Provides Update on Travis Hunter's Progress As Two-Way Player.