Deion Sanders on Travis Hunter's usage: "I have no idea what's going on"

Back in May, Colorado coach Deion Sanders expressed disappointment that he hadn’t heard from the Jaguars regarding how to coach, and how to deploy, cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter. Two games into Hunter’s second NFL season, Coach Prime remains perplexed about Hunter’s workload.

“I don’t ask questions because I’m not there,” Sanders said recently on his CBS Colorado show. “I don’t know what transpires when we’re not looking. I have no idea what’s going on. I know who he was and who he is right now. I know what he’s capable of. I do know that.”

In Week 1, Hunter got four snaps on offense and 29 on defense. He had one catch for eight yards.

In Week 2, Hunter had six snaps on offense and 37 on defense. He wasn’t targeted in the Jacksonville passing game.

The lack of usage for a player who entered the league with the promise of being the first true full-time two-way player since Chuck Bednarik has sparked plenty of questions. Earlier this week, coach Liam Coen said the team will be looking at giving him more reps this week, on both sides of the ball.

Asked on Friday whether Hunter has spoken to coaches about the rotation at cornerback this week, Hunter opted for discretion.

“I’m gonna leave that up to the coaches to answer,” Hunter said. “That ain’t for me to answer.”

In an appearance on The Pivot podcast before the start of the regular season, Hunter reiterated his belief that he can reach his full potential as a cornerback and as a receiver.

Ryan Clark told Hunter that he could be a Hall of Fame cornerback or a Pro Bowl-caliber receiver. But Clark’s implicit message was clear — it’s impossible to be both. How can Hunter accomplish it?

“Work ethic,” Hunter said. “We all get the same 24 hours.”

Channing Crowder pressed Hunter on his effort to use that 24 hours to do both at the highest possible level. “The numbers don’t work out,” Crowder said.

“If I’m trying to be the best — how are you gonna be the best, if you ain’t trying to be the best? If you ain’t trying to compete and do the best to be the best? So my main focus is be the best. So I’m gonna do everything I can do to be the best. I don’t want to be the best at one position. There’s a lot of people that’s the best at one position. Ain’t nobody yet been the best at both, full-time.”

For now, Hunter has played on a part-time basis on defense, with cameo appearances on offense. What’s his preference?

“I like doing both,” Hunter said. “And I cannot sit on the sideline. I don’t think nobody’s noticed that yet. I hate the sidelines. I do not wanna sit there. I can’t sit there and just watch football. I’ve got to be on the field.”

Clark pointed out that 52 other guys spend time on the sidelines. “That’s their problem,” Hunter said.

He was smiling when he said it, but there’s no escaping his point. Hunter still wants to play on a full-time basis on both sides of the ball. But he’s playing so little on each side of the ball that the snaps don’t add up to the amount of time he’d be getting if he played all snaps on offense or all snaps on defense.

It’s still not clear what the Jaguars are doing with the player whom they moved up from No. 5 to No. 2 in the draft to get, with the justification that they’d be getting two players in one. At some point, the idea of a two-way player has yielded to the reality that, as Crowder said, the numbers don’t work out. It’s too hard to be fully and completely prepared to perform at a high level on both offense and defense.

And it’s almost as if the Jaguars want Hunter to come to the conclusion on his own that he’ll accept playing one side of the ball or the other in order to get a full-time workload at one speciic position.

Still, if the Jaguars weren’t prepared to let Hunter do what he clearly wants to do (and he surely made his point clear to them before the draft), why did they give up so much to make him the second overall pick in the draft?

That’s the most confounding aspect of this. Everyone knew Hunter wanted to play both ways. The decision to trade up to get Hunter sent a message that the Jaguars were on board with that approach. The numbers, to date, paint a far different picture.

Click here to read article