Who Should I Start? Cooper Kupp or Travis Hunter

Wednesday, May 28, 10:14 PM

The Athletic's Michael-Shawn Dugar writes that new Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp could work underneath in the middle of the field in his first year with the team, with Jaxon Smith-Njigba serving as the big-play threat deeper down the field. Kupp and Smith-Njigba have overlapping skill sets, and general manager John Schneider said the use of tight splits will make the two wideouts hard to defend. Seattle could align JSN more out wide as opposed to in the slot, where he spent 77.4% of his snaps last season. Smith-Njigba led all receivers in yards (956) and catches (79) from the slot in a breakout campaign. It will be interesting to see how offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak uses both Kupp and Smith-Njigba in 2025. Kupp is on the wrong side of 30 and has missed five or more games three seasons in a row due to injuries. JSN has the higher ceiling, and we can't count on a ton of volume from Kupp at this point in his career.

Wednesday, May 28, 1:07 PM

Jacksonville Jaguars rookie first-round wide receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter was out on the field with the defense last week, per head coach Liam Coen, and he's been learning a bunch both on offense and defense during offseason workouts. The Jaguars aren't putting Hunter on both offense and defense on the same day, although he does still meet with the defense on days that he practices with the offense. Per The Coachspeak Index, it sounds like Hunter's defensive snaps early in his rookie year will be more of the third-down/high-leverage variety. The 22-year-old second overall pick in this year's NFL draft is an elite athlete, but it's hard to gauge his fantasy value in Year 1 as he looks to play both sides of the ball. The good news is that the Jaguars appear to be planning on making him more of a focal point on offense early in his NFL career than on defense.