There it is, the stupidest thing you’re going to hear all year.
It’s been an eventful start to the season for Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Travis Hunter. That’s partially because he’s capable of playing both offense (WR) and defense (CB), which is what he did while playing for the University of Colorado. Though he had aspirations to continue doing both full-time in the NFL, it seems as though the Jaguars are easing Hunter into his pro career, and have actually limited his usage on both sides of the ball so far.
Through the first six weeks of the NFL season, Travis Hunter played more offensive snaps than defensive snaps. There’s no doubt that Travis Hunter has the skills to play both sides of the ball. On the field, he’s a menace at whatever position you place him in (and the Jags are slowly but surely getting him more snaps). And off the field? Travis Hunter appears to be just the type of rookie player that any NFL team would want.
This past weekend, Hunter and the Jaguars had a home game against the Seattle Seahawks that kicked off at 1 p.m. eastern standard time. Players typically get to the stadium around two hours early to prepare and properly warm up for the contest, which means that the Jacksonville rookie had some extra time in the morning to do whatever he wished to do.
And Travis Hunter decided to use the time before his sixth NFL start to make a big-time life decision.
Video quickly started spreading online of the Jacksonville Jaguars two-way player getting baptized at Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday morning before his game.
An Instagram user by the name of Kristine Love took footage of Hunter giving his life to Christ just hours before he had an NFL game to play in. Love says she was running late for church, and was grateful that she was because it allowed for her to be able to witness Travis Hunter taking a huge step in his life and in his faith:
“Couldn’t find my keys this morning and was late for church, only to come upon Jacksonville Jaguars Travis Hunter getting baptized! He asked to come get baptized before today’s game. Thank you Jesus for touching this young man’s life.”
Gotta love it…right?
Well apparently not if you’re Skip Bayless.
The miserable former Fox Sports and ESPN host who’s since been sued for $1.5 million over sexual harassment allegations dropped maybe the worst take you’ll see all season when he released a 28 MINUTE rant criticizing Hunter for choosing to get baptized before a football game:
“There was no way that Travis Hunter should have chosen to be baptized on the morning of a 1:00 game in Jacksonville where he plays, obviously, for the Jaguars…
The Jags are using him so little, especially on defense… that Travis Hunter is starting to lose interest. He’s starting to check out mentally on the Jags, so he was actually happy to be baptized on a game day morning because football isn’t taking that much concentration or focus or pregame mental preparation.”
Bayless says he’s not suggesting that getting baptized was a protest against his playing time, but called it a “stunning indication” of where his head is at:
“It’s not really into football right now… His attitude obviously in this case was, ‘Hey, they’re not using me that much anyway, why not get baptized on a gameday morning?'”
What an absolutely ridiculous, tone deaf statement. And how did he manage to blather on for 28 minutes about that?
Hunter ended up playing 58 snaps on offense, and only 22 on defense in a game where the Jaguars used more of a three linebacker look. He ended the game with two tackles on defense, and on the offensive side of the ball he hauled in 4 receptions on 7 targets for 15 yards in the 20-16 loss for Jacksonville.
So why would he have chosen to get baptized on Sunday before the game? Well, aside from the spiritual reasons, there’s also a practical one: Church is on Sunday morning. Is Bayless somehow not aware that it is, in fact, a common occurrence for church to be held on Sundays, even when there’s an NFL game? I assumed that was common knowledge…
And it’s also pretty common for NFL players to attend church before a game, whether they’re getting baptized or not. There are, after all, some things that are more important than football, and I feel like securing your eternal salvation is one of them. But hey, I’m not as smart as Skip Bayless I guess.
Needless to say, the take from the disgraced sports host didn’t really go over too well online:
Putting Christ first in his life tells me his mind and heart are absolutely in the correct place. Shame on you. This is a bad take.
— BEAGS 1776 🇺🇸 (@beagles_kyle) October 15, 2025
God comes first, Skip. Great things happen when you put God first, Travis now knows that and will be rewarded for it.
— Aaron E Sepulveda 🌮 (@AaronESepulveda) October 15, 2025
Okay I get rage bait is your job but someone’s faith should probably be a boundary
— Barney Stinson (@barney5tinson) October 15, 2025
Yeah, somebody clearly doesn’t have their priorities in order, but it’s not Travis Hunter in this situation.
There’s no denying that Skip Bayless was once a legend in the sports broadcasting world, but it’s sad to see what he’s become. Maybe it’s time for him to hang it up…and may I recommend going to church on Sunday too.
