RANT SPORTS – Where Will Travis Hunter Play in NFL?
Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, of Colorado, is expected to be one of the top picks in the 2025 NFL draft, possibly even No. 1.
The question to some is whether Hunter, who played offense and defense in college, is a wide receiver or a cornerback in the NFL.
To answer that, Rant Sports asked eight personnel men from eight different NFL teams what they thought. All of the eight said Hunter was a cornerback first. One didn’t rule out the possibility of him doing both and another said it might depend on what team drafts him.
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First, the numbers
Hunter caught 96 passes for 1,258 yards with 15 touchdowns on offense. He had 35 tackles, four interceptions and broke up 12 passes.
“I think he’s a corner. When you watch him and see his ball skills and his coverage, yeah he’s a corner,’’ an executive with an AFC team said. “Now I’m not ruling out him playing wide receiver. I’m just saying to me he’s a corner, first. But to say he can’t play wide receiver at this point is just wrong.
“You get him in your building and then you see what you have and decide. Can he play both? He’s done it in college at a high level. He’s a great player. You don’t find many like him. In all my years I’ve never seen anyone like him.
“And he’s a great kid.’’
Another executive in the AFC feels his skill and play at corner outweighs that at wide receiver. So his team would play him on defense.
“I think he’s an elite cornerback with wide receiver ability,’’ he said. “He’s not in the class of (Malik) Nabers (of New York) or Brian Thomas (of Jacksonville) at wide receiver in my estimation.’’
Who Gets Hunter?
With one week of games to play New England currently has the No. 1 pick, followed by Tennessee and Cleveland at Nos. 2 and 3. All three could use a player such as Hunter on either side of the ball. And you could say the same for any of the other 29 teams as well.
“We would play him at corner,’’ a NFC scout said. “I don’t think we’ll get him. But if we did we would put him at corner. Now maybe in some situations he could play receiver, too. Kind of like what Dallas did with Deion (Sanders, Hunter’s college coach). A lot depends on where he goes and what that team needs.’’
Another NFC scout agreed with his rival, but also warned about wearing him down with too many snaps. In college Hunter has had games with over 100 snaps.
“He’s a corner who you could spot at receiver when you go to certain sets,’’ the scout said. “No, he can’t play both. It would kill him. He’s not that big. If he played both they would just throw at him all the time, wear him down.’’
Size a Factor?
That same scout threw out the one caveat about Hunter — his size.
“I’m a little worried about his size. He doesn’t look that big. They say he’s 6-1, but I think he’s more like 5-10,’’ he said.
Another NFC scout shared the same sentiment.
“I think he’s a little smaller than they say,’’ he said of Colorado’s listing of 6-1, 180. “We’ll see how he measures, but he doesn’t look 6-1, 180 to me.’’
