Pros and Cons of Travis Hunter's Intention to Play Both Ways in the NFL

There isn't another prospect in the 2025 NFL draft quite like Colorado's Travis Hunter—and may not have been one in the past half-century.

Sure, there have been players who have dabbled on both sides of the ball—catching a few passes here and there while playing cornerback. But the 6'0", 188-pound Hunter was both a full-time wide receiver and cornerback for the Buffaloes in 2024—and played both positions at an elite level.

ESPN's Jordan Reid called Hunter the No. 1 overall prospect in this draft class.

"Hunter's combination of natural instincts, ball skills and positional flexibility is why he's the top player on my board," Reid said. "He was arguably better at cornerback, where he tied for second in the Big 12 in interceptions. His ability to play both ways has elicited comparisons to Hall of Famers Champ Bailey and Charles Woodson. Hunter could be the first corner to be drafted No. 1 or the first receiver selected with that pick since Keyshawn Johnson in 1996."

Hunter wants to continue playing both ways in the NFL—something the league hasn't seen since well before the AFL-NFL merger. But is that realistic in the 21st-century NFL? What are the potential benefits? The pitfalls that could doom the experiment? And what does Hunter's NFL future look like?

Even though he isn't working out at the NFL Scouting Combine, those questions are among the hottest of the week.

Might as well take a stab at answering them.

PRO: Hunter Excelled as a Two-Way Player at Colorado

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The last true two-way player in the NFL (Chuck Bednarik of the Philadelphia Eagles) hung up his cleats over 60 years ago. But while speaking to reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine, Hunter made it clear that given his choice, he'd be both a full-time receiver and a full-time cornerback at the professional level.

“I’d like to play both sides of the ball,” Hunter said. “If they give me the opportunity to play both sides of the ball, I’m going to play both sides. I’ve been doing it for a long time. Don’t see why I can’t continue. They say nobody has ever done it for real the way I do it. I tell them I’m just different. I am a different person.”

The biggest argument in favor of Hunter getting his wish is simple enough—his level of play last year at both spots on the way to winning the Heisman Trophy.

Offensively, Hunter paced the Big 12 in both receptions and touchdowns, racking up 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns. Defensively, Hunter tallied 36 total tackles, 11 passes defensed and four interceptions.

Hunter was the first player in the history of college football to rack up at least 1,000 receiving yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions in a single season. The first to win the Chuck Bednarik Award (given to the nation’s best defensive player), the Fred Biletnikoff Award (given to the nation’s best wide receiver) and the Heisman Trophy in the same season.

What Hunter accomplished at Colorado was unprecedented, and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders thinks NFL teams would be foolish not to let him continue playing both ways in the pros.

"He's gonna do that, or they shouldn't draft him," Sanders told reporters. "I'm gonna make sure of it. Don't draft him if you're not going to give him an opportunity to play on both sides of the ball."

CON: Colorado Isn't the NFL

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No one is questioning Travis Hunter's talent. His production in Boulder speaks for itself. But it also can't be questioned that he's about to go through a massive jump in the level of competition.

Many fans just don't understand how massive the gulf in talent is between collegiate players and the NFL. It's why it's laughable when some suggest that a great college team could beat, say, the Tennessee Titans.

They would lose by 30.

Every player in the NFL was a standout in college—from the best player in the league to a third-string offensive lineman who rarely sees the field. The professional game is exponentially faster. Exponentially more physical.

For every wide receiver like Ja'Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals who explodes into stardom off the jump, there's a Jalen Reagor who struggles to find his footing in the NFL. Even the best young cornerbacks often take a while to adjust to the pros.

That adjustment period is often because the NFL is far more complicated than college football. Receivers are expected to run a complete route tree. Cornerbacks play much more press coverage and more complex zones. It takes time. Practice. Meetings upon meetings upon meetings.

The NFL's CBA places strict limits on how much players can practice. What happens when the wide receivers are meeting at 2:30 and the defensive backs meet at 2:45? Hunter may well be a uniquely talented player, but even he can't be in two places at once.

Mastering one position in the NFL is incredibly difficult. Mastering two?

That's an awfully tall ask—even for Hunter.

PRO: It Would be EPIC

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Playing both ways would be a Herculean task. But there are folks who believe Hunter should be afforded the opportunity. They include Charles Woodson, who was the 2009 Defensive Player of the Year and played defense and returned punts in the NFL.

"To me, it's not the amount of plays that he played. It's the impact that he made while he was in the game," Woodson said on the NFL on Fox podcast. "He was causing game-changing fumbles—always in the right position—and then for him to turn around and go do it on offense. At the next level, when you have a guy with that amount of talent, you can't just have him sitting on the sideline."

If Hunter is somehow able to pull it off and be an effective starter (or more) playing offense and defense, he would do something that hasn't happened in the NFL in decades.

And to say it would make him a star is one whopper of an understatement.

Shohei Ohtani both pitches and hits for the Los Angeles Dodgers—and he's arguably the best player in baseball. During the days of Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson playing multiple sports, the pair weren't just sports stars—they were a cultural phenomenon.

Bo Knows and all.

Now, those aren't apples-to-apples comparisons—because there just isn't one for a player going both ways in the modern NFL. Hunter would instantly become one of the league's biggest stars. Ticket sales. Endorsement deals. Publicity galore for his team.

The tomato cans picking at the top of Round 1 would probably like to make the news for reasons that aren't being terrible.

CON: Injury Risk and Conditioning

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Much of the skepticism regarding Hunter's ability to play both ways centers on the sheer volume of snaps that would entail. Many rookies already struggle in the latter stages of their first NFL season—the "rookie wall."

That wall would be that much bigger for a player manning two positions.

Granted, per Henry McKenna of Fox Sports, Hunter already played 1,356 snaps in 2024—over 400 more than any other player in FBS. He told reporters that he has already conditioned himself for a larger-than-usual workload.

"I do a lot of treatment," Hunter said. "People don't get to see that part. What I do for my body to make sure I'm 100 percent each game. I feel like nobody has done it. I know I can do it. I did it at the college level. ... There are a lot more breaks in the NFL."

By weight of comparison, Mike Jackson of the Carolina Panthers led all cornerbacks in snaps last season with 1,204. DJ Moore of the Chicago Bears led all wideouts with 1,056 snaps.

We're talking about several hundred more snaps a season. Against bigger, faster, more physical players. Potentially going from covering Garrett Wilson to running routes against Sauce Gardner in the blink of an eye.

Also, while you can't say that those increased snaps will definitely lead to more injuries, more snaps means more potential for injuries—especially if Hunter gets gassed late in games.

The best ability a football player can have is availability—and Hunter is little good to the team making a sizable investment in him if he's in the blue tent.

It's a legitimate concern.

So What Will Happen?

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It would be great to wrap up this column with a definitive call. To say, "Hunter will be a two-way force the likes of which the NFL has never seen." Or that "Hunter will have to pick a primary position and that's that."

But NFL teams can't even agree on what Hunter is.

Tennessee Titans head coach Bill Callahan told reporters that he believes Hunter has the talent to play both ways. But he also said the team primarily views Hunter as a cornerback who would mix in on some offensive plays.

“He probably starts at corner, and then you find ways to inject him into the offense as he gets more comfortable,” Callahan said. “But I think corner is probably his starting point, in my opinion. You might get varying opinions on that, but then I think he has a real role as a receiver.”

Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry also expressed some confidence in Hunter's ability to play both ways. But he said the Browns view Hunter primarily as a wideout in the NFL.

“He can play both and that’s what makes him special," he said. "We see him as a receiver primarily first, but again what makes him a bit of a unicorn is the fact he can do both at a high level. It’s six of one, half dozen of the other. I do think there’s an element where his superpower is his ball skills. And (at receiver) you’re in position where he can have the ball in his hands, say, 100 times a year vs. 30. We will let our coaches and scouts fight it out and see where he is on the board, but any team would be happy to have him.”

This writer tends to agree with Callahan. Elite receivers may touch the ball more and make more money, but high-end cornerbacks are harder to find. It would also be much easier to incorporate Hunter into the offense in some packages than as a part-time defensive back.

Team needs will play a part. So will the philosophy of the coaching staff. But the chips are stacked against Hunter being an 1,800-snap two-way sensation.

That doesn't make it impossible, though.

And it will be one of the NFL's most fascinating storylines of the summer.