It appears Travis Hunter will play a bigger role in attack for the Jacksonville Jaguars starting Sunday at Wembley Stadium in London.
Jaguars coach Liam Coen said Wednesday they are making it a priority to design and call more plays in which Hunter is the No. 1 option to take advantage of his speed and athleticism.
“The opening plot is one of them, No. 1,” Coen said from The Grove resort, where the team is staying and training this week in London. “Our job as an offensive team (is) to make sure we put him in the progression and put him in the position to be a No. 1 (option) a little more often in some ways.
“And then when he’s the primary option, we’ve got to throw and catch. We’ve got to make sure we identify him, find him, be able to be in the right place at the right time. So I think it’s a combination of a lot of those things that ultimately can all be controlled.”
Hunter had four catches for 15 yards, including a 14-yard catch-and-run, on seven targets in Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks. It was his lowest yardage total of the season (previous low was 21 yards in Week 3 against the Texans).
The need to make Hunter a priority in the passing game is tied to the struggles of receiver Brian Thomas Jr. Thomas is the Jaguars’ leading receiver (24 catches for 334 yards), but he had a third down and another pass in which he appeared to have hesitated in the middle of the field against the Seahawks. Thomas had three drops in Jacksonville’s Week 2 loss to Cincinnati, including one on fourth down, which would have given the Jaguars a first-and-goal inside the Bengals’ 10-yard line late in the fourth quarter.
The Jaguars are also without tight end Brenton Strange (20 catches for 204 yards), who was placed on injured reserve after injuring his hip in Week 5 against the Kansas City Chiefs. He was the team’s leading receiver at the time of his injury.
“It’s very important for me to be patient,” said Hunter, who has 20 catches for 197 yards. “I just have to let the game come to me. Coach is trying to fix a few things for me, and I just have to keep working and have the guys trust me because I do my job every time.”
Coen said involving Hunter more offensively — he hasn’t had more than six catches in a game, which he did in Week 1 — doesn’t mean forcing the ball on him.
“We can’t always say the ball will be thrown to one person based on one play,” Coen said. “On the field, there are elements to that, especially when you don’t have a lot of one-on-one coverage. … It’s got to be a little bit based on what we see, but also making sure we’re doing our job as a coach. And he’s doing his job to be in the right place at the right time, and Trevor (Lawrence) is able to provide that because he’s great protection. You need all 11.”
