Travis Hunter's About to Lose Most of His Fantasy Value

What They're Saying

Wolfe: "They think Travis Hunter can be elite at cornerback and still be an impact player on offense."

Fantasy Football Impact

This is pretty huge and presents impact well beyond Hunter. But let's start with him.

After some early tinkering, Jacksonville appeared to settle on Hunter as the slot leader and a central target just before midseason. He started three straight games and reset his season playing-time highs in each of those outings. But then came the season-ending knee injury in practice ahead of Week 9.

Hunter wound up playing 66.7% of the offensive snaps and 35.9% on defense across his seven appearances. Sounds like that will at least flip in 2026.

But if the Jags truly plan to go "full time" at corner, then Hunter would almost certainly play more than two-thirds of the defensive snaps. And that setup would likely mean less than 35% playing time on offense.

Expect Hunter's offensive usage to lean efficient in targets per route. It wouldn't make much sense for Jacksonville to run him on many offensive plays that aren't designed to target him. But it's also tough to imagine usable fantasy output on modest playing time.

IDP Leagues Will Be Different ... But Only a Little

This switch might seem to favor Hunter's IDP value, but it's probably not actually good for that either.

If you play in a league that awards Hunter both offensive and defensive points, then he's still likely to generate much more fantasy production via his offensive usage. CBs tend to rank among the weakest defensive scorers, especially those who line up outside.

You simply get fewer opportunities -- in general -- the further you align from the ball. And your scoring tends to rely heavily on big plays. That means unreliable output.

Hunter will still carry much more intrigue than typical corners in such formats, though. Anything he adds on offense will be welcome -- and potentially differentiating.

Other Winners & Losers

The biggest winners here are clearly Jacksonville's top three WRs from last season, especially Parker Washington.

The third-year wideout took over the slot after Hunter went down and enjoyed a second-half breakout. He wound up leading the Jags in targets, receptions, and receiving yards for the season.

From Week 9 on (after Hunter went down), target shares went:

• Washington 24% (10 games)
• Jakobi Meyers 22% (11 games)
• Brian Thomas Jr. 15% (eight games)

(That's according to Fantasy Life and adjusted for games missed.)

Thomas has been bandied a bit as a potential trade candidate this offseason. But the Hunter plan likely means Jacksonville plans to run back those top three wideouts from the second half of last season, with Hunter sprinkled in.

Rankings Movement

Our initial PPR rankings assumed Hunter would reclaim the slot lead over Washington and sorted the Jags wideouts this way:

• Thomas at WR34
• Meyers WR38
• Hunter WR49
• Washington WR71

Expect that to change quite a bit. The big question, though, will be which Jacksonville WR deserves to be selected first.

Thomas' rookie season suggested he sports the highest fantasy ceiling among the group, though his second year revealed worrisome risk.

Washington, of course, comes off the aforementioned breakthrough.

Meyers has proved to be the most consistent fantasy performer across the largest sample of seasons.

This could be a volatile group in the rankings throughout the offseason, based on what we hear out of Jags workouts. And draft values figure to depend quite a bit on ADP.

Projected ADP Movement

Here's how Jaguars WRs sit in Underdog Fantasy ADP as of this writing:

• Thomas WR31
• Washington WR36
• Meyers WR40
• Hunter WR60

Expect Hunter to fall from there. And don't be surprised if Washington rises.

Ultimately, that range looks fair for the top three, and getting shares of all three will make sense. If Meyers remains third in ADP, though, he'll almost certainly be my most frequent target.

Dynasty Impact

It's way too early to dump Hunter outright in dynasty, but you might want to see if you can trade him to a more optimistic league mate.

There are plenty of years for Hunter's career to still take different paths. But he's locked in with the Jags through at least the next three seasons, and probably 2029 as well (fifth-year option) unless he disappoints.

Keeping Hunter makes more sense in IDP leagues, but such formats might also make him an even better "sell" candidate. You're more likely to be able to get a first-round pick in return there, with managers potentially underrating the production loss of his diminished offensive role.