The Jacksonville Jaguars’ first-round pick, Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver and defensive back Travis Hunter, right, poses with Tony Boselli, Executive Vice President of Football Operations, left, with his jersey during a press conference Friday, March 25, 2025 at Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union] / Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The Jacksonville Jaguars came out with the most surprising move of the recent 2025 NFL Draft: trading up 3 spots to take DB/WR Travis Hunter at No. 2 overall. While a lot of fans were impressed by the Jaguars’ aggressiveness to grab who many believed was the most talented draft prospect in this year’s class, not everyone agrees with the move.
The Jaguars gave up their No. 5 overall pick along with their 2026 first-round pick to get the Cleveland Browns to agree to trade down. Podcast host Colin Cowherd and John Middlekauf were among the draft analysts that didn’t completely agree with the pick and believe that it was too steep a price:
Cleveland [Browns] got a haul, I think [the Jaguars paid] way too much for a non-quarterback. The GM for the Jags is a young kid, the adult table being a GM, I don’t like the swing. Travis Hunter is a great player but unless he’s a Pro Bowler on both sides of the ball it feels like way too much to give up and I think Cleveland was clearly doing it to get ammo for next year’s quarterback draft… I’m trying to think of the last time I got three texts by NFL employees and all went: mistake by the Jags. I didn’t like it at all.
– Colin Cowherd
I think it’s the easiest trade that Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski will ever make. I’m with you, how could you make this trade when you don’t know your team? That’s insane to me to throw away your next first round pick. I think it’s one of the most insane first round draft day trades for a non-quarterback.
– John Middlekauf
There’s always two sides to every coin. While Travis Hunter was a generational talent within Colorado’s organization and college football as a whole, there’s always a chance that his game doesn’t directly translate to the NFL.
You can either choose to look at the Hunter pick with optimism, or with regret. All we can do is wait and see how Hunter handles the league and the Jaguars will hope that he’s as good as we all believe he can be.
“You know what, I probably got some familiarity with the ‘them picks’ sort of process. For our fans, I’ll tell you, don’t be scared. This is something I’m uniquely positioned to navigate,” Jaguars general manager James Gladstone said after the trade.
“We ended up bringing Travis Hunter to Jacksonville, and with that, he is somebody who is deserving of a first-round draft pick as a wide receiver, and he is worthy of a first-round draft pick as a corner. Certainly, look forward to each of those elements showing themselves over the next few years while he is under his rookie contract, but yeah, we’re excited about just getting him in the boat, so to speak.”
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