Through the first five weeks of the season, Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Travis Hunter has not had the kind of impact on the offensive or defensive side of the ball that many expected he would. But according to Deion Sanders Jr., the son of Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders, this is not due to anything related to Hunter’s time at Colorado.
On the ESPN2 alternate broadcast of Monday Night Football, the “Manningcast”, Eli Manning shared a comment that Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen relayed to him about Hunter’s practice routine during his time at Colorado.
In particular, Coen explained to Eli Manning that Hunter did not practice at wide receiver, instead focusing on practicing as a cornerback, which would explain Hunter’s slow start as a wide receiver in the NFL.
“I talked to Liam Coen,” said Manning. “They said when he was at Colorado, he practiced zero with the offense. He only practiced defense. They just kind of had a kind of special system where they had signals. The coach would just signal the formation to him and signal the route to him. So he just improvised, he went out there and winged it as a receiver. So he is still learning right now how to be a receiver.”
Sanders, who is behind Well Off Media, took notice of these comments from Manning and directly refuted this comment from Coen. He declared in a post on X that Hunter did indeed practice equally on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball during his time at Colorado.
“Don't let them lie to you Mr Manning, he practiced Wr & DB equally,” wrote Sanders in a post on X.
Maybe Coen was simply trying to come up with a believable explanation as to why Hunter hasn’t yet hit his stride as a receiver in the NFL. Or maybe Coen was simply given incorrect information and truly believed that this was the case about Hunter’s practice strategies at Colorado.
But either way, there were also a number of videos that were posted on social media from Colorado fans, which show Hunter practicing on the offensive side of the ball during his collegiate playing days, backing up Sanders’ claim in the process.
Whatever the case may be regarding Coen’s false claims, Hunter is at least seemingly making strides as a receiver. Notably, Hunter made his biggest impact on the offensive side of the ball in his career thus far on Monday night, putting up a career-high 64 receiving yards in the team’s 31-28 upset victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
For more on the Jacksonville Jaguars, Travis Hunter, and all things NFL, head over to Newsweek Sports.
2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.