Skip Bayless Rips Travis Hunter Getting Baptized Before Game, Says It Shows Disinterest In Football

Travis Hunter's decision to be baptized on Sunday before the Jacksonville Jaguars game has drawn interest on both sides of the Atlantic. When the team landed in London for their upcoming game at Wembley Stadium, reporters asked the receiver and defensive back what kind of person that baptism had made him.

"The kind of person I know I will be," Hunter said. "Just respectful, kind, always loyal to my people and just being upfront and being straightforward. Just being a family person, being the same person. Really just being happy, not negative and just being a better person."

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) signs autographs before an NFL football matchup, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Seahawks defeated the Jaguars 20-12.

God Bless Travis Hunter

And we wish God's blessing over Travis Hunter.

Unfortunately, Skip Bayless isn't really doing that.

In a rambling, almost nonsensical video he delivered to his three million followers on X, Bayless criticized Hunter for choosing to be baptized on the morning of the game against the Seattle Seahawks because it shows he's not interested in football. 

"Travis Hunter is starting to lose interest," Bayless said. "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."

Skip Bayless

Bayless Questions Hunter's Drive

Bayless went on to call the timing of the baptism "a stunning indication of where [Hunter's] head is at or not at, right now. 
It's not really into football right now."

Huh? So getting baptized before a game shows a lack of interest in that game? Does eating a meal before a game, which feeds the body in a way getting baptized feeds the soul, show a disinterest in the coming game?

Bayless questioned Hunter's desire and drive when it comes to football.

"He will compete, but he is not driven to excel at football," the pundit said. "This is scary to me because no pro football player who's dedicated to playing pro football would have undertaken such an emotional event, a life-changing event on the morning of an early afternoon game.

"Nobody would do that. If we go to the greatest quarterbacks ever, Brady, Peyton, if we go to the greatest running backs ever, Jim Brown, Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton, none of these great players, the greatest cornerbacks. Deion … Deion honored the game too much. He respected the game too much.

"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have gotten baptized or chosen to get baptized on a game day morning of an early afternoon game, when he could have just waited until the bye week …"

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) reacts to his carry during the first quarter of an NFL football matchup, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Seahawks defeated the Jaguars 20-12.

Skip Bayless 'A God Guy?'

I'm pretty sure Bayless is projecting his religious beliefs onto Hunter and then trying to draw some tortured line from those personal beliefs to the rookie's dedication to football. It's ridiculous.

What if the guy simply wanted to get closer to God to feel like he could play better? You know, like, it might be good to have the Creator of the universe on one's side? 


Bayless, you should know, claims to be "a God guy" but doesn't like to call himself a Christian because "now that's been condemned as this term for far-right nut cases and zealots."

Got it, so Bayless likes to wear the badge of Christianity while being ashamed of any criticism or backlash, which means he has a serious lack of understanding about Jesus Christ and Scripture.

And let me be on the record:

Travis Hunter got baptized on a game day morning, and he didn't miss warm-ups, he didn't miss the game, he didn't miss any snap he was told to go play. 

And even if he had missed all of it, God comes first. Period.