Big Cat Country
Monday Night’s 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs was one for the ages for the Jacksonville faithful.
It was a a chaotic, gritty, endlessly fun football game where the Jaguars’ stars shined as Trevor Lawrence, Brian Thomas Jr. and Devin Lloyd all stepped up in prime time. It was also the first national audience as a pro for Travis Hunter and clearly the lights bring out the best of The Unicorn as he had his best game as pro yet.
In fact, just about every active player from the 2025 rookie class made a significant impact in this game. Let’s break down the play of each of them in this week’s Jacksonville Jaguars Rookie Report.
Travis Hunter
Travis Hunter has had a glimpses of special playmaking this season but Monday night was the first time we saw him really make a big impact for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Hunter started his night with a shifty play where he made two Chiefs miss on his way to gaining a first down and he had a similar play later in the game where he turned what looked like a short gain into an eight yard gain to set up a field goal. The highlight of the game though was his incredible 44-yard catch in which he skied over two KC defenders to showcase his unbelievable athleticism. All three of his catches came on scoring drives for the Jaguars.
On the defensive side, Hunter’s first target on the night was a big one as he prevented Travis Kelce from converting a third down with tight coverage on an attempted rub route. He followed that up with sticky coverage all night including running stride for stride with speedster Xavier Worthy on a go ball that fell incomplete.
Hunter finished the game with 39 offensive snaps to 25 on defense and graded out as a top rookie on both sides of the ball. It was by far his most impactful game in his young career and it feels like just the tipping point of what’s to come for “The Unicorn”.
Bhayshul Tuten
I mentioned in last week’s rookie report that Bhayshul Tuten seems to make a splash play every week and this week was no different, albeit this time it was for not touching the football.
Tuten’s actual touches in the game were minimal and not overly noteworthy as he had four carries for just six yards and a single catch for five yards. However, his decision to not field Harrison’s Butker’s late game kickoff helped set the Jaguars up at the 40-yard line which was huge considering there was less than two minutes left in the game.
A young player fields that kick all the time so having the mental wherewithal to let it bounce out of bounds was heady stuff from the young back.
Jack Kiser
Linebacker Jack Kiser was the lone active rookie to not have much of an impact on the game as he didn’t register any snaps on defense while...
