Travis Hunter was on the verge of breaking out at WR -- now a knee injury has put everything on hold

Travis Hunter's breakout will have to wait. The Jaguars rookie suffered a non-contact knee injury at practice on Thursday and was placed on injured reserve, sidelining him for at least four games. The setback arrives as Hunter appeared to be finding his footing -- and potentially ascending into a featured role on offense -- after an uneven first month of the season while the Jaguars struggled to figure out the best way to use the wide receiver/cornerback.

Through the first three weeks, Hunter was a part-time player on both sides of the ball, and he wasn't especially productive in either role. His offensive involvement came along slowly, even while he played more overall snaps on that side early on.

Hunter played just 59% of offensive snaps and 47% on defense through those first three games, and he totaled just 10 receptions for 76 yards, along with nine tackles and one pass breakup. The reps at cornerback looked pretty good, but he mostly wasn't playing enough on that side to make a significant impact until Jarrian Jones got hurt and he took over a larger role. But when that happened, the Jaguars dramatically decreased his offensive reps, and he struggled to make any impact at receiver.

It was a far cry from the player we saw be so dominant on both offense and defense in 2024 that he was named both the Biletnikoff Award winner as the nation's best wide receiver and the Bednarik Award winner as the country's best defender.

Over the last several weeks, the trend reversed itself a bit. The Jaguars played Hunter for a larger share of offensive snaps than the previous week for every game from Week 3 through Week 7, culminating in an 87% snap rate during his breakout game against the Los Angeles Rams in London. 

His snap rate on defense was a little more inconsistent, but he still found a way to make his presence felt on that side of the ball with more consistent coverage and getting his hands on the ball slightly more often. He was only credited with two official pass breakups, but in watching back the tape I would give him at least three or four. 

Travis Hunter's 2025 usage

His offensive performance vs. L.A was everything that Hunter backers wanted to see from him as a receiver. Not only did he work the short areas of the field to snag passes underneath and create yards after the catch, but he also consistently worked the intermediate and deeper areas for seemingly the first time all season. His first career touchdown grab came on a corner route where he beat Quentin Lake at the top of his break and found himself open in the deep part of the field.

That was one of three passes of at least 10 air yards that he caught in the game, according to Tru Media -- one more than he had caught in the previous six games combined. As we noted in the story linked at the top of this post, Hunter was almost exclusively used on short passes and screens earlier in the year. And of the two deeper catches he had prior to the Rams game, one of them came on a broken play. The three he caught against L.A. were all in the rhythm of the offense. It was extremely encouraging. 

With the 87% route share and the 14 targets he accumulated in that game, it looked like Hunter was beginning to assert himself as arguably the top target in Jacksonville's offense, given Brian Thomas Jr.'s struggles to start the year.

For now, Hunter's rise is on hold. He'll miss at least the next four games, and it's unclear whether he'll be ready to return after that -- or how long it will take to regain momentum once he does. It's a shame for football fans, because we were just beginning to see what he can become.