Since the Jacksonville Jaguars announced that Travis Hunter underwent season-ending surgery due to a non-contact knee injury in practice, there's been chatter that they should stick him to one position once he comes back. The discourse centers around the fact that playing two ways was too much for the reigning Heisman Trophy winner to bear.
That said, that argument falls under the slightest scrutiny. For starters, Hunter was an ironman at Colorado, and never did playing two ways become an issue. A counterpoint is that the NFL is more intense, and that's true, but NFL players get hurt all the time. This isn't unheard of.
Critics have since brought up the fact that Hunter sustained the injury in practice as the unquestionable proof that playing two positions was too much for his body. The issue with that argument is that the Jags already had another player in his rookie season who suffered a serious injury in practice, and unlike Travis Hunter, he didn't even get to suit up for the regular season.
Former Jaguars DE Dante Fowler is proof anyone can suffer an season-ending injury in practice
When the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Dante Fowler third overall in 2015, they thought they were getting a pass rusher who would wreak havoc across the NFL for years to come. However, the plan came to a screeching halt when he tore his ACL in the first rookie minicamp practice. The former Florida Gator then underwent a season-ending injury and missed the whole 2015 campaign. He returned the following year and went on to have a productive career.
Now, all injuries are different, but Fowler didn't play two ways and still got hurt... in practice. There have been countless cases like that. Heck, Jaguars rookie Caleb Ransaw suffered a leg injury that brought his rookie campaign to an abrupt end. Yet, there was not as much discussion about him because he doesn't play two ways.
It's also worth noting that Hunter split time at both receiver and corner. He didn't spend extra hours after practice playing one position after focusing on the other one early in the day. Similarly, the West Palm Beach native wasn't a full-time player on either side as a rookie. He played 67 percent of Jacksonville's total snaps on offense and 36 percent on defense before he got hurt.
The Jaguars shouldn't worry about Travis Hunter long-term
Even though Travis Hunter's knee injury warranted a season-ending injury, it isn't nearly as serious as the one Dante Fowler sustained as a rookie. The 2015 first-round pick tore his ACL, while Hunter hurt his LCL.
Although knee procedures are delicate, players who've had LCL injury have bounced back. Two recent examples are running back Javonte Williams and wide receiver Rasheed Rice. Both returned in less than a year, but it's important to note that Williams wasn't truly back to his former self until 2025, even though he had surgery in 2025. Then again, he also hurt his ACL, not only his LCL.
The silver lining is that injury analyst Stephania Bell of ESPN argues that the surgery won't have any long-term effects on Hunter, and he'll have plenty of time to recover in the offseason, noting that he should be able to have some degree of participation in Organized Team Activities. Below's the skinny.
"There really shouldn't be in this case, given that it was an isolated LCL tear for Hunter," Bell stated when writing whether the injury would have long-term effects on Hunter. "If there truly was no other ligamentous, meniscus, tendon, or cartilage damage, then the rehabilitation process is fairly straightforward. The offseason will allow Hunter plenty of time for the tissue repair to heal and to progress his physical conditioning, and he should be ready to participate at some level in organized team activities."
This doesn't mean that the Jaguars won't revisit the two-way approach, but it's abundantly clear that it wasn't the reason Travis Hunter suffered a knee injury. Having said that, expect the team's brass to have conversations about making any potential tweaks to the process in the upcoming months. This is understandable when you take into account that they're dealing with unique circumstances.