No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter might need no introduction in Jacksonville, but Jaguars general manager James Gladstone played hype man on Friday seated to the left of the Heisman Trophy winner and two chairs away from head coach Liam Coen.
“As we sit here, Travis Hunter is a Jacksonville Jaguar. Thinking about the sport of football and the power of the game itself, it’s capacity to ignite belief,” the 34-year-old Gladstone said. “Belief in ourselves, belief in others. Belief in achieving what many may deem impossible. Travis Hunter embodies belief. He’s a rare person. He’s a rare player. But he is a reminder that the boundaries of the game of football were built to be challenged. The decision to draft him was actually a statement – a statement for how we plan to move and who we are. And we want him to be nothing more than him. Because when he is, he elevates the space around him. From the football field, to the city, to the game of football itself. Travis Hunter is who we’ve been hunting up.
“I couldn’t be more jacked to be sitting right here beside him to introduce you to the man of the hour,” Gladstone said.
The Jaguars entered the draft with 10 total picks and made tidal waves at the outset on Thursday, trading the fifth and 36th pick, a fourth-round selection (126) in 2025 and their first-round pick in 2026 to the Cleveland Browns for the No. 2 pick, a fourth-rounder (No. 106) and a sixth-round selection (200).
The Florida native was giddy about being called home by the Jaguars. He hadn’t talked to anyone in the organization since February at the NFL Scouting Combine until his agent intimated something might be coming. Hunter said he started looking for homes in the area because he just had a feeling it would wind up being Jacksonville.
“They believe in me … they trust in everything that I’ve done. I’ve just got to go out there and prove it right,” Hunter said Friday. “It’s definitely a lot of motivation. They sacrificed a lot to get me. That means they believe in me. And that just validates that I need to go ahead and just do my job.”
Hunter’s NFL job description is not yet written in ink. He knows for certain he’ll wear No. 12 and be on the field as much as the coaching staff allows.
Hunter was drafted to be a wide receiver but will also get chances at cornerback as the plan stands Friday. Coen said sports science, position coaches, team physicians and personnel bosses would all have input on the best way to deploy Hunter.
He played both positions and averaged over 113 snaps per game at Colorado in 2024. He was the Heisman winner, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, AP college football player of the year, and the Jaguars are convinced he’s just getting started.
Hunter said he’s already on a first-name basis with quarterback Trevor Lawrence. They met at an Adidas commercial shoot in Hawaii, and is a proud member of the unofficial Brian Thomas Jr. fan club. The Jaguars’ first-round pick last season, Thomas was the 23rd overall pick and set the Jaguars’ single-season rookie touchdown receptions and receiving yards records.
Whether Hunter gets a chance to defend Thomas on the practice field remains to be seen.
“We do have to be fluid throughout,” Coen said. “We’ll have a plan right now of primarily on offense with learning the defensive system and practicing on the defensive side of the ball as well throughout this offseason program. We have to be fluid throughout this whole process.
–Field Level Media
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