Jaguars' Travis Hunter says he and Browns' Shedeur Sanders are ready for the NFL

Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders won't be teammates at the start of the football season for four years.

Hunter was the second pick for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Sanders waited for two days, and while in college, Cleveland Browns heard Cleveland Browns call his name in the fifth round, starring Jackson State and Colorado during their college days.

Now, they want to have an impact on the NFL's respective franchise.

Both players have entered a rookie season with a lot of spotlight lingering for different reasons. For Hunter, GM James Gladstone has spoken out of hope that during his view as a Hall of Fame career, Hunter will be a generational talent to raise the team as well as football cities and football games.

Click here for more sports coverage on FoxNews.com

Jacksonville Jaguars catcher Travis Hunter, #12, met with the media after a rookie small training camp at the Miller Electric Center. (Travis register – imagine image)

In Sanders' case, he will be trapped in a quarterback battle, including Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel, an Oregon product that was selected in front of him last month.

Hunter said he had talked with Sanders since he slipped off the NFL draft board and he knew his former teammates and good friends were ready to do the exact same thing he would start his NFL journey.

ESPN star criticism of Cam Ward NFL draft report re-launched

“We're just going to work,” Hunter said in a discussion of excitement with Panini America, “man, who will give him his first rookie trading card in his NFLPA rookie debut in Los Angeles.

“We both lowered our heads and did what we had to do. He had a lot of skeptics out there and he was going to go to work. I'm going to go to work and just do what we've been doing.”

Although football has been watching Sanders and Gabriel play in rookie mini camp, Hunter has exceeded the Jaguars’ expectations of him.

Jaguars executive vice president of football operations Tony Boselli told the NFL Network that although he knows Hunter hasn't even run to his feet, the team has looked at him up close with his new teammates.

Jacksonville Jaguars catcher Travis Hunter, #12, held a reception at a rookie small training camp for the NFL football team in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

“We had high expectations. He exceeded my expectations,” Boseli said. “You see athletes on the field, you see his movements, his direction changes, physical control, but this is my favorite person.”

As Hunter adapted to his NFL life, he was also very aware of being the preferred leadership aspect. The Jaguars already have veterans in the locker room with players like Trevor Lawrence, Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen, but Hunter knows he can join him as long as he does the job first.

The same goes for Sanders with brown.

“We absolutely have to be leaders, especially me,” Hunter explained. “I'm the second pick, so I have to be leaders. Shedeur, he has to go there to work, earn his job like I do. But he has to go in and be the mind of the offensive, so he has to go there and be the leader.”

Hunter said his time at Jaguars so far is “good” and only Otas ended up leading to training camp this summer.

one

As Hunter continues to work, he is also excited about a major milestone in his early career – seeing himself using an NFL trading card for the first time.

The Hunters team up with Panini America, along with several other upcoming rookies, where they will receive their first Panini NFL trading card at the NFLPA rookie premiere.

Travis Hunter smiles as he opens Panini America NFL trading card package. (Panini, USA)

Click here to get the Fox News app

“It's great to see myself on my card, so it's definitely a blessing,” he said.

One day, Hunter's rookie card may be worth a penny. But he knew it was up to him to achieve it.

“I don't know.” He said when asked how much he was going to pay for his rookie card. “I still have to do some work.”

Follow Fox News Numbers Sports Reports on X And subscribe Fox News Sports Grocery Newsletter.