Jaguars Make Final Decision on Travis Hunter's Two-Way NFL Future

The Jacksonville Jaguars saw something special when they moved up in the 2025 NFL Draft to take Travis Hunter.

At a time when Shohei Ohtani captured a global audience with his ace-like pitching and record-breaking hitting, playing two ways hasn’t only become possible but the coolest thing an athlete can do.

So when Hunter entered the league as a shutdown cornerback who also played offense as an elite receiver, the Jaguars saw the vision.

Yet, during an inconsistent first season that ultimately ended with Hunter getting injured right as he began establishing himself as a wideout, there have been questions all offseason if it might be over for Hunter as a two-way player in the NFL.

Maybe he could still be used in special-receiving packages, but murmurs around Jaguars camp said they might be ready to fully commit to Hunter as a cornerback.

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This week, though, Jaguars general manager James Gladstone shut down those rumors, revealing on “The Rich Eisen Show” that their prized young athlete would continue playing both offense and defense in 2026.

“He is set to play both sides of the ball,” said Gladstone. “The piece that I think we can expect to see is actually an uptick in corner usage. Last year, there was a higher volume and a higher percentage of wide receiver usage than there was of corner. I think we can expect to see that corner percentile and count go up. That’s not to say anything impacts his availability and usage on offense. It just means that cornerback usage will increase.”

While that could be taken as the Jaguars weaning off Hunter on offense, Gladstone reiterated that isn’t the case, and there’s even a chance he plays more snaps as a receiver this upcoming campaign.

For the Jaguars and Gladstone, it’s about putting a player they believe can be a franchise cornerstone for the next decade in the perfect spot to succeed.

And, while doing so, follow his dreams, similar to Ohtani when he first came over from Japan to sign with Major League Baseball.

“That’s his dream, and we’ll support that in the best way we can and do what we feel is in the best interest of winning football games,” said Gladstone. “That’s putting him in position to do what he does best, and that’s with the ball in his hands and in defending some of the best receivers.”

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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 4:41 PM.