Liam Coen didn’t give Travis Hunter any offensive snaps at all, and the decision turned out exactly the way the Jaguars needed it to vs. the Bengals.
Coen has been pushing the narrative of Hunter’s two-way vision and doing the complete opposite by playing him mainly on defense.
With Parker Washington, Brian Thomas Jr. and Jakobi Meyers already on the offense, they needed him much more on the defense. And Hunter rose to the occasion.
How Many Snaps Did Travis Hunter Play vs. Bengals?
Hunter’s outing on Sunday was perhaps his most brutal one so far. The stat sheet says the interception was erased by a roughing the passer penalty, but the tape tells the real story. Hunter picked off Burrow, hit Tee Higgins with a soul-snatching juke that left Cincinnati’s star receiver on the turf, and celebrated directly into the camera on his way back. The penalty took the turnover away, but the message was already sent.
That was the highlight reel part.
On the stat sheet, Hunter played all 76 defensive snaps and recorded 3 solo tackles, 2 pass breakups, and a near-interception that was negated by a penalty.
All defense. No offense. Hunter also didn’t play any special teams, and after the game, Jaguars coach Liam Coen said after the game that Hunter was too important to the defense on a day when cornerbacks Montaric “Buster” Brown and Christian Braswell were both out with injuries.
“We knew with Buster being down and Braswell being down, he was going to play every single snap of the game,” Coen said of Hunter. “We had some things for him on offense, but we just didn’t feel like putting him out there — if he gets hurt on offense, we’re in a real bad spot. So didn’t want to put ourselves at risk there. I was very proud of the way Travis played defensively today.”
Instead of screaming it at the top of their lungs or spending every media release explaining why Hunter is better suited on the defense despite his two-way dream, the Jaguars let the numbers talk, and they silenced everyone in Week 4.
Liam Coen Gives Travis Hunter his Flowers
“He played his *** off today,” Coen said. “He had the pick that was called back, he had a ton of PBUs, he had the huge tackle, and ended up knocking the dude out pretty good. I just thought Trav balled today.”
Hunter didn’t jump ship when his rookie campaign was swallowed by injury—he stayed locked into what Liam Coen was building in Jacksonville. Now, that patience is paying off on the field.
The Jaguars sitting at 3-1 isn’t about feel-good stories or offseason hype. It’s about an identity that actually holds up on Sundays. They aren’t just coasting on last year’s 13-win resume—they’re suffocating teams, leaning heavily on defense, and forcing the rest of the league to treat them like a genuine threat in the AFC.
Going into Cincy and surviving 13 penalties to take down Burrow on his own turf changes the math for Jacksonville. At 3-1, this group isn’t leaning on track-meet shootouts or offseason hype. They aren’t asking national analysts to take their 3-1 start seriously—they’re just suffocating drives and letting a physical, opportunistic defense do the talking.
Did Travis Hunter Play Any Snaps on Offense At All? Jaguars CB’s Snap Count vs. Bengals