The Jacksonville Jaguars have gotten rave reviews for the bold decision to trade up for Travis Hunter. This isn't surprising when you take into account that the former Colorado Buffalo has the potential to be a game-changer. A polarizing figure in franchise history appears to echo that sentiment.
Former Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer made an appearance on the Colin Cowherd Show and said that he has no doubt that Hunter can play on both offense and defense at the pro level, pointing out that he's a generational talent. "He was the best player in the draft. And I was on record, if I had the first pick, I would have took Travis Hunter.
That's how much respect," Meyer told Cowherd when asked if he's worried Hunter landed with the Jaguars. "We covered him. I got to know him.
I watched the practice. I watched him play the 160th play of the game. And then it kind of I had some people call me after I said that.
I might have been on your show, that I would take him No 1." Meyer continued, "And they're like, 'You really believe Travis Hunter can go against Denzel Ward for a series and then line up and go cover Marvin Harrison Jr, or [DK] Metcalf. Can you really believe and do that?'
And it made me think for a minute. I think he's a generational talent. I think he's a generational player.
You saw him on the draft. He doesn't want to coach a guy like that. They got to spread it out to meet [Roger] Goodell.
That's how much energy he's going to provide to a team." "So I'm a huge fan. He is the best player to draft.
Are there going to be questions, yes, and how long, if he does play both ways, how long can your body actually take that? He's a young kid, but young kids eventually become old kids, so we'll see." There's no doubt that Meyer crashed and burned in the NFL.
Nobody will argue that, but he was a heck of a coach at the collegiate level, having won national championships at Florida and Ohio State. If anyone is in a position to talk about Hunter's potential impact is him. Here's Meyer's full exchange with Colin Cowherd.
His remarks about Huner start at the 5:24 mark: The Jaguars will deploy Travis Hunter on both sides of the ball General manager James Gladstone already said that Travis Hunter will see more time at receiver early the onboarding process, but he should get a bigger workload at cornerback by the time the regular season start. Hunter himself has said that he should have no trouble playing two ways in the pros full-time, pointing out that the NFL is slower. But even if it isn't sustainable, the Jaguars will find a way to get the most out of his talent.
And that's the thing, there's no precendent on how to manage the playing time of a player of Hunter's caliber. Sure, there have been players who've started both ways, but none have done it on a full-time basis, and none have been on Hunter's caliber. Even Urban Meyer knows it.
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