{"id":314668,"date":"2026-06-21T09:42:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/314668\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T09:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:42:26","slug":"this-nfl-is-different-than-the-nfl-deion-sanders-played-in-ex-eagles-lb-clashes-with-coach-prime-over-travis-hunter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/314668\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018This NFL Is Different Than the NFL Deion (Sanders) Played In\u2019 \u2014 Ex-Eagles LB Clashes With Coach Prime Over Travis Hunter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While Shedeur Sanders draws plenty of attention this offseason, Jacksonville Jaguars star Travis Hunter has his own intriguing storyline. The two-way player enters Year 2 of his NFL career, having already dealt with a season-ending injury in Year 1, which is cause for much concern around the league.<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/nfl-hq\/redraft-simulator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><br \/><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/NFL-Ultimate-Simulator-Redraft-Web-Banner.png\" alt=\"PFSN NFL Ultimate Redraft Simulator\" width=\"970\" height=\"250\"\/><br \/><\/a>Run a full NFL redraft where all 32 teams start from scratch, and the entire NFL player pool is combined into a single snake draft. Pick your franchise and draft against 31 CPU GMs in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/nfl-hq\/redraft-simulator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">PFSN\u2019s FREE NFL Ultimate Redraft Simulator<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Why Emmanuel Acho Believes Travis Hunter Won\u2019t Hold Up as a 2-Way Star<\/p>\n<p>Hunter was drafted second overall last year, with plenty of excitement around his ability to play both wide receiver and cornerback. Jaguars head coach Liam Coen leaned into the fanfare, using the rookie on both sides of the ball. However, right after his 101-yard, 1-touchdown breakout performance against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 7, the wheels suddenly came off as he went down with a knee injury.<\/p>\n<p>He missed the remainder of the campaign, which raised many red flags among NFL experts. However, Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, who coached Hunter at Colorado, recently doubled down on the fact that Hunter should continue playing both ways.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re not going to ask me,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.covers.com\/nfl\/exclusive-interview-deion-sanders-on-shedeur-travis-hunter-dallas-cowboys\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">Sanders said<\/a> when asked about how the Jaguars should use Hunter. \u201cI thank God that you\u2019re asking me. The kid won the Heisman Trophy playing both sides of the ball. That\u2019s all I\u2019ve got to say on that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Former linebacker Emmanuel Acho weighed in on the matter, particularly regarding how Sanders firmly advocates for the youngster to play both ways.<\/p>\n<p>BE THE GM OF YOUR FAVORITE TEAM: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/mockdraft\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PFN\u2019s FREE NFL Mock Draft Simulator<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think he has the luxury (to play both ways) because he got hurt last year,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/0OnJqSlhlxc?si=uqwSNnxT1HHZvK2n&amp;t=63\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">Acho said on \u201cSpeakeasy.\u201d<\/a> \u201cWhen you\u2019re dealing with a child, you have to earn the right for me to do something. You have to earn the right for me to believe in you in that manner. Well, Travis, we allowed you to play both ways, and, unfortunately, you got hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trouble surfaced in late October of last year, when Hunter was limited in practice because of a knee issue. The next day, Coen announced that Hunter would be placed on injured reserve, and the rookie never played another snap.<\/p>\n<p>PREDICT THE NFL SEASON: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/nfl-playoff-predictor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PFN\u2019s FREE NFL Playoff Predictor<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I\u2019m not mistaken, I don\u2019t think it was a contact injury,\u201d Acho added. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like he got rolled up on. It almost felt like a wear-and-tear injury. I had MCL, MCL, meniscus \u2014 I know way too much about knee injuries. What you don\u2019t want to do is start to get rid of the cartilage in Travis Hunter\u2019s knee in his first and second year in the NFL.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wide receivers and cornerbacks tend to have 10 good years in the NFL. Playing both ways could very well cut Hunter\u2019s shelf life in half.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile you can\u2019t necessarily question Deion Sanders based up on his experience, this NFL is different than the NFL Deion played in \u2014 No. 1,\u201d Acho added. \u201cNo. 2, there are no teams like Kansas (University) in the NFL\u2026 I was able to watch Travis Hunter take series off, sometimes take quarters off (in college)\u2026 That\u2019s not the NFL, especially not when you\u2019re a DB in the AFC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/nfl-wr-rankings-impact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">PFSN\u2019s WR Impact Metric<\/a>, Hunter posted an impact score of 68.9 last season, ranking 87th in the league. Unfortunately, due to his injury-plagued season, he was ineligible for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/nfl-cb-rankings-impact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">PFSN\u2019s CB Impact Metric.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Jaguars will have to be smart about how they utilize him moving forward. Exhausting him early will give them little return on their massive investment from the 2025 draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Shedeur Sanders draws plenty of attention this offseason, Jacksonville Jaguars star Travis Hunter has his own intriguing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-314668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}