The Jacksonville Jaguars are more than ready to see how Travis Hunter will perform in training camp this summer, which will be the first real indicator of how he has recovered from his season-ending knee injury in 2025.
Updates from the Jaguars seem to bode well, with Hunter most recently featured in a video posted to the team's social media accounts, sprinting at an impressive 22.6 mph.
It's easy to see that expectations for Hunter's sophomore season are already high, and the latest offering from NFL.com's Kevin Patra will only add fuel to that fire. In his list of non-quarterback MVP candidates for each team, Patra chose Hunter for Jacksonville's candidate.
"It doesn’t matter how his snap counts wind up shaking out; if Hunter is a lock-down corner
and contributes significantly on offense, he’ll have broken the NFL mold," wrote Patra. "The MVP is a QB’s award, but if Hunter proves to be a No. 1 corner and generates 800-1,000 receiving yards, he’ll do something no one in the modern era has touched."
Hunter is already predicted to have a breakout year, and it's for that reason that Patra feels the Jaguars could afford to not make many signings in the offseason. It's also expected that he will be serving primarily as a full-time cornerback, while still seeing some opportunities on offense. However, it has been made clear that, no matter how his role shakes out, Hunter will continue to be a two-way player.
Either way, the bar for Hunter has been set incredibly high. Patra is not the first analyst to set high expectations for his return. But to be league MVP, it isn't just enough for the Jaguars to make a strong post-season run; Hunter will also need to be among the best in both positions to have a shot at winning. His performance would need to be so dominant that he would be a better candidate than Trevor Lawrence, who, incidentally, was an MVP nominee himself last season.
Given how talented Hunter is, if he is able to remain healthy, it could be possible that he gets an MVP nod. But there is no denying it's still a long shot, no matter how good Hunter is.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Analyst sets historic Year 2 bar for Jaguars' Travis Hunter
