Travis Hunter will be a full-time receiver in his first game, if an ESPN report is accurate. Adam Schefter says that’s the plan for the Heisman winner in his first game, with him seeing only situational use as a cornerback.
That makes Hunter look a little more valuable, in my eyes. I would think Jacksonville will be peppering him with lots of short passes, hoping he can generate bonus yards once the ball is in his hands.
I haven’t been crazy about the idea of using Hunter on both sides of the ball. He’s not real big, and he’s had problems staying at healthy – in college, high school and at training camp. And having Hunter practice at both positions makes it harder for him to master either.
But apparently it will be primarily wide receiver in Week 1, and I image pretty much everyone who picked him will be using him.
The fresh-out-of-the-box hit rate for rookie receivers hasn’t been particularly good. Even for the ones going early in the draft. In the last 10 years, 31 wide receivers have been selected with top-20 picks. Six of those guys scored in their first game, and only five went over 70 yards.
Twelve of those 31, at least caught 5-plus passes, and just short of half caught at least 4 balls.
I think Hunter has a good chance of catching 5 passes, given how they’ll use him.
Two other receivers selected with top-20 picks will also debut tomorrow: Tetairoa McMillan (in that same game) and Emeka Egbuka at Atlanta.
| WIDE RECEIVERS SELECTED IN THE TOP 20 (Wk 1) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Pk | Opp | Result | No | Yards | TD | PPR |
| 2011 | A.J. Green, Cin. | 4 | at Cle. | W, 27-17 | 1 | 41 | 1 | 11.1 |
| 2011 | Julio Jones, Atl. | 6 | at Chi. | L, 12-30 | 5 | 71 | 0 | 12.1 |
| 2012 | Justin Blackmon, Jac. | 5 | at Min. | L, 23-26 | 3 | 24 | 0 | 5.4 |
| 2012 | Michael Floyd, Ari. | 13 | Sea. | W, 20-16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 |
| 2012 | Kendall Wright, Ten. | 20 | N.E. | L, 13-34 | 5 | 37 | 0 | 8.7 |
| 2013 | Tavon Austin, St.L. | 8 | Ari. | W, 27-24 | 6 | 41 | 0 | 10.1 |
| 2014 | Sammy Watkins, Buff. | 4 | at Chi. | W, 23-20 | 3 | 31 | 0 | 6.1 |
| 2014 | Mike Evans, T.B. | 7 | Car. | L, 14-20 | 5 | 37 | 0 | 8.7 |
| 2014 | Brandin Cooks, N.O. | 20 | at Atl. | L, 34-37 | 7 | 77 | 1 | 20.7 |
| 2015 | Amari Cooper, Oak. | 4 | Cin. | L, 13-33 | 5 | 47 | 0 | 9.7 |
| 2015 | Kevin White, Chi. | 7 | at Hou. | L, 14-23 | 3 | 34 | 0 | 6.4 |
| 2015 | DeVante Parker, Mia. | 14 | at Was. | W, 17-10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 |
| 2015 | Nelson Agholor, Phil. | 20 | at Atl. | L, 24-26 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1.5 |
| 2016 | Corey Coleman, Cle. | 15 | at Phil. | L, 10-29 | 2 | 69 | 0 | 8.9 |
| 2017 | Corey Davis, Ten. | 5 | Oak. | L, 16-26 | 6 | 69 | 0 | 12.9 |
| 2020 | Henry Ruggs, L.V. | 12 | at Car. | W, 34-30 | 3 | 55 | 0 | 8.5 |
| 2020 | Jerry Jeudy, Den. | 15 | Ten. | L, 14-16 | 4 | 56 | 0 | 9.6 |
| 2020 | CeeDee Lamb, Dall. | 17 | at LAR | L, 17-20 | 5 | 59 | 0 | 10.9 |
| 2021 | Ja'Marr Chase, Cin. | 5 | Min. | W, 27-24 | 5 | 101 | 1 | 21.1 |
| 2021 | Jaylen Waddle, Mia. | 6 | at N.E. | W, 17-16 | 4 | 61 | 1 | 16.1 |
| 2021 | DeVonta Smith, Phil. | 10 | at Atl. | W, 32-6 | 6 | 71 | 1 | 19.1 |
| 2021 | Kadarius Toney, NYG | 20 | Den. | L, 13-27 | 2 | -2 | 0 | 1.8 |
| 2022 | Drake London, Atl. | 8 | N.O. | L, 26-27 | 5 | 74 | 0 | 12.4 |
| 2022 | Garrett Wilson, NYJ | 10 | Balt. | L, 9-24 | 4 | 52 | 0 | 9.2 |
| 2022 | Chris Olave, N.O. | 11 | at Atl. | W, 27-26 | 3 | 41 | 0 | 7.1 |
| 2022 | Jahan Dotson, Was. | 16 | Jac. | W, 28-22 | 3 | 40 | 2 | 19.0 |
| 2022 | Treylon Burks, Ten. | 18 | NYG | L, 20-21 | 3 | 55 | 0 | 8.5 |
| 2023 | Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Sea. | 20 | LAR | L, 13-30 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 4.3 |
| 2024 | Marvin Harrison, Ari. | 4 | at Buff. | L, 28-34 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1.4 |
| 2024 | Malik Nabers, NYG | 6 | Min. | L, 6-28 | 5 | 66 | 0 | 11.6 |
| 2024 | Rome Odunze, Chi. | 9 | Ten. | W, 24-17 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 2.1 |
| 2025 | Travis Hunter, Jac. | 2 | Car. | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| 2025 | Tetairoa McMillan, Car. | 8 | at Jac. | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| 2025 | Emeka Egbuka, T.B. | 19 | at Atl. | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan