Jaguar Report

Jaguars' Star Has Great Advice for Hunter, Every Draft Pick

The Jacksonville Jaguars' edge-rusher preaches business cognizance, better perspective.
Zak Gilbert|
Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen (41) runs on the field before the game of an NFL football matchup Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024 at Everbank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Vikings defeated the Jaguars 12-7. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen (41) runs on the field before the game of an NFL football matchup Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024 at Everbank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Vikings defeated the Jaguars 12-7. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] | Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Six years ago this week, Josh Hines-Allen walked onto the stage in Nashville and hugged Roger Goodell. The seventh overall pick that year, he’s now one of only five players chosen in the first 13 of that draft to earn multiple Pro Bowl selections.

Looking back, he had some great advice for any player entering the league this weekend, including his newest teammate Travis Hunter.

“I wish I knew how much of the league is business, not just ball,” Hines-Allen said on Thursday. “We all know it’s about skill, grind and talent, but navigating contracts, trades, locker room politics and media pressure? Whole different game. Rookie me would’ve benefited from knowing that earlier and maybe kept my circle tighter and my focus sharper.”

Hines-Allen signed a five-year, $150 million extension before the 2024 draft. Jacksonville's other top edge-rusher, the No. 1 overall choice in the 2022 draft Travon Walker, is in discussions on his own extension.


After Jacksonville drafted Hunter Thursday night, he told reporters he’s focused on the person in the mirror.

“No, there's no pressure. There's no pressure with me. I’ve just got to go out there and do my job, be Travis Hunter. They did everything they could to come get me, now I’ve got to do everything I could to help win and help the organization, uplift them.”

Like Hines-Allen in 2019, Hunter was in attendance for the first round of the draft. One of 15 prospects invited to Green Bay, Hunter spent the week in the football-rich city and heard business advice from the chief executive of the league, Goodell. The commissioner said he took time in the morning, along with Hall of Famer Curtis Martin and the reigning Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Arik Armstead from the Jaguars, to address those prospects.

“The veterans gave their perspective on the transition into the game and also thinking about how they should start thinking about their transition out of the game,” Goodell told Mike Greenberg in a pre-draft interview Thursday. “And that's a hard message to give to a young man, to start his career.

“But the message is really use this platform and it's a great privilege, but it's also a great opportunity for them. And so, when they hit that stage, some of them were dreaming about this and watching this for years. And they're now realizing that they've become an NFL player. And even this morning, I don't think they realized the magnitude of that.”

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Zak Gilbert
ZAK GILBERT

Since his freshman year at the University of Colorado, Zak Gilbert has worked 30 years in sports, including 18 NFL seasons. He's spent time with four NFL teams, serving as head of communications for both the Raiders and Browns. A veteran of nine Super Bowls, he most recently worked six seasons in the NFL's New York league office.