JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It took a little bit of convincing, but Liam Coen is going put the big names of the Jaguars on the field Saturday night.
When Jacksonville takes the field in its preseason opener against the Steelers, it will be with its starters in the lineup. That includes first-round pick Travis Hunter, who fans will get a look at on both sides of the ball.
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“We will play everybody. So, how long that is, we’ll kind of determine how things are going a little bit,” Coen said. “Everybody’s going to play in this game.”
That “everybody” includes Hunter, Jacksonville’s unicorn of a draft pick who is attempting to become the NFL’s first full-time two-way player since Chuck Bednarik in 1964.
Hunter’s debut will likely begin with a start at receiver and then coming on defense later. He’s listed as a starter at wideout, along with Brian Thomas Jr. and Dyami Brown, and shares a cornerback role on the depth chart with Jarrian Jones. Hunter, the Heisman Trophy winner from Colorado, has bounced between the offense and defense during camp, and made plays on both sides of the ball.
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“Really excited. If Friday [mock game] was a glimpse of it, we should all be excited to see him running around out there, wherever it’s at — on offense, defense,“ said quarterback Trevor Lawrence. ”Hopefully, more offense. Throw one in there for us there.”
Hunter has had more head-turning plays at receiver, with no shortage of nimble catches. In practice on Tuesday, Hunter got the best of cornerback Jourdan Lewis on consecutive 1-on-1 drills by beating the veteran with shifty end zone moves. One catch went for a touchdown, and the other was a spectacular grab where Hunter managed to just get one foot down in bounds. That’s the ability that Hunter brings to offense, and one he’ll add to the defense when he’s had more reps at it.
“Absolutely [he’s improving] and the progress is never going to be linear,” said offensive coordinator Grant Udinski. “But it’s nice to see him stack those days and continue to progress mentally and physically with some of the technique stuff.”
Both will begin to come for Hunter Saturday night against the Steelers.
Coen was on the fence earlier this week about his preseason plans, saying his background in with the Rams and Buccaneers were at differing ends of the coaching philosophy in what they did. Los Angeles preferred to use preseason to play mostly rookies and young players. Tampa Bay got its starters noticeable playing time in the preseason.
Coen was still working on his preseason plans when center Robert Hainsey came to the head coach with a suggestion. Hainsey made some good points and Coen used that to help with his strategy,
“No, actually, he was one of the guys that kind of convinced me, actually,” Coen said. “Came into the weightroom the other day on the day off, and we talked about it, and he wanted to play. A lot of the guys want to play.”
The Jaguars are working with new faces all across the team. That includes first-time coordinators in Udinski and Anthony Campanile. Injuries have started to trend upwards, and younger players have been pressed into playing more. That extra playing time could be beneficial to players like defensive tackle Tyler Lacy (projected No. 1 linemen Maason Smith and Arik Armstead have been out) and linebacker Yasir Abdullah (Dennis Gardeck and rookie Jalen McLeod have battled injuries).
“You’ve got two new systems on both sides of the ball, and the one joint [practice] as I mentioned, so — I’m not saying it ties your hands, you can do whatever you want — just kind of everything leans that way, to it probably being the best thing for our team right now," Coen said.