Travis Hunter just reminded everyone who he is. This time, with a highlight catch to get the ball away from the end zone. That’s the player he has always been since his Colorado days. He is a true two-way athlete who hasn’t had to decide where he’d play because he was that good on both fronts. He stacked snaps at the receiver and flipped the game while being on the corner. But the NFL is not college football; it’s a different beast. So naturally, there’ve been frequent voices against Travis playing both ways.

The league’s chorus has been loud and leaned in on specialization. Everyone has been wanting him to pick a side. “I don’t think it’s possible to do [play both ways for an entire career] for real,” said Davante Adams. “That’s just a lot of mileage, and I don’t know how long… his career is going to be if he’s playing that many snaps?” Mind you, Adams did not question Travis’ talent on either side, only the physicality it required to play both sides for 17 games at a high level. And on Tuesday, Deion Sanders was asked the same question on Politely Raw. Which side should Travis pick?

“Well, I’ve been the head coach of Travis Hunter for three years, and he’s played both. It was not ‘mainly’ [any side]. He was mainly the dog. He was mainly the guy,” Deion said. “And to get the best out of him, you’ve got to feature him. You’ve got to keep him involved because he’s a big play waiting to happen.” And that’s apt. We’ve seen countless plays on which Travis Hunter flipped the script, be it on offense or defense. It’s the blueprint that allowed him to excel in college football. Moreover, if the Jaguars traded valuable picks to get him, they should use him to the fullest as long as he is contributing well enough to both sides.

“Travis is one of a kind, man. And you got to treat him as such,” Deion said before adding, “Well, let’s say, [he plays] 66 snaps. I ain’t picking a side. 33 and 33. That’s who he is.” The split Deion is talking about was exactly what we saw in the NFL until week two. Throughout these four weeks, Travis has logged a total of 250 snaps, of which 152 are on the offense and 95 are on the defense. Game by game, the split changes. For example, in week 2, he had 42 snaps on offense and 38 on defense. But in week 4, he had 38 snaps on offense and just 9 on defense.

That’s why Sanders frames this as a warning. “He should be featured on the offense, but he’s got to be your dog on the defense.” Well, defense suits him well, but on offense, Travis Hunter has got to work a lot harder on his route running. But the message for Jaguar head coach from Deion Sanders is: Travis should be treated as a rare kind of difference maker on both sides of the ball, and he should be coached and used like that.

Coach Prime challenges Jaguars’ cautious plan

This was not the first time Deion Sanders had some warning for the Jacksonville staff. A couple of weeks back, he came out and said on Travis Hunter, “They’re not using him enough.” He based his critique on these years of coaching Hunter and telling the Jaguars staff to feature him more since his impact rises drastically when he plays both sides.

Sanders detailed the plan behind his criticism, as well. “I’ve seen it with my own eyes on an everyday basis for three straight years… I know how you’ve got to take care of him… He never practiced on Tuesdays… [but] was ready to play hundreds of snaps on Saturday,” he said. Hunter has been used more on the offense by the Jaguars since 61% of his snaps are offensively. He is still short of the full-blown two-way load that he carried in Colorado. 

And in the end, Sanders pushed his belief in Hunter’s unique ceiling, “He just loves the game… loves studying… [he’s] one of the greatest I’ve ever seen do both simultaneously. My rule is I’ll let anybody do it, as long as you dominate.” We haven’t seen the sort of domination Deion talks about from Hunter as of now. But he is just a rookie; he is settling in, learning the playbook. As he gets more volume and more plays are designed around him, he’ll be right back to being the impact player like he was for Colorado.