Everyone has an opinion on whether or not Travis Hunter can play both ways in the NFL.
The Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Hunter with the second overall pick for all intents and purposes to play him at both wide receiver and cornerback.
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Hunter has an extremely rare skillsetCredit: Getty
The talented two-way star excelled on both sides of the ball at Colorado, winning the Heisman Trophy as the sport’s best player.
However, playing both sides in college and in the NFL are two completely different things. There is a reason very few have ever done it on the professional level, and none ever on a consistent weekly basis.
Hunter is trying to be the NFL’s first true modern two-way superstar. Many doubt that will be the case, as there is simply too much responsibility that goes into learning each position and the nuances that come with it all.
Respected veteran NFL analyst Greg Cosell points to new head coach Liam Coen’s intricate and complicated offense being a lot on anyone’s plate, let alone a rookie who will be trying to learn two different positions.
Cosell also points out that Hunter simply can’t be in two places at once, when it comes to meetings, film, practice, etc.
“Liam Coen’s offense, assuming he’s a wide receiver first, which apparently he is, there is a ton of motion, there’s a ton of formations,” Cosell said on Ross Tucker’s podcast.
“He’s got to learn all that. Again, he may be that special guy that we’ve never seen before, I’m not going to sit here and say he can’t do it.
“But there’s so much detail in that offense that he has to learn. He can’t sit in two meetings at the same time.”
Just about everyone has an opinion on Hunter, and Cosell stated his. While he wouldn’t put it past the Heisman Trophy winner, he believes the task is going to be too tall for the first-year player.
Hunter has made his own thoughts about his expectations crystal clear.
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Quarterback Trevor Lawrence gets a new weapon in HunterCredit: Getty
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Hunter fully expects to play both sides of the ballCredit: Getty
“It’s never playing football again,” Hunter told CBS Sports before the draft.
“Because I’ve been doing it my whole life, and I love being on the football field. I feel like I could dominate on each side of the ball, so I really enjoy doing it.
“I just feel very confident in myself,” he told CBS Sports, “And I got a competitive spirit that I can do whatever I put my mind to, and I feel like I can do it.”
At Colorado, Hunter played 713 snaps on offense and 748 on defense in 2024.
He finished his last season with the Buffaloes with 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 16 total touchdowns, on top of four interceptions, 35 tackles, 11 pass breakups and one forced fumble.
He was an unstoppable force on both sides of the ball.
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When the Jaguars drafted Hunter, Coen said he wants his new young star to showcase his talents everywhere, and has explained Hunter’s workload so far.
“We built a plan and then sat him down and really talked through it,” Coen said during an appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show.”
“How does he learn? What is the best ways that he learns? We did gain some of that information throughout the draft process, but when you actually sit down with him and get a feeling, ‘Well, he likes to walk-through more than sit in a meeting-room setting, so let’s do more walk-throughs.’ Every day he was on offense, he also met with the defensive staff in the afternoons, and vice versa.
“Typically throughout this offseason, he was on one side of the ball in practice, and he didn’t flip-flop. Today, he did.
“And he played both sides of the ball in practice today and that will have to continue on throughout training camp where he’s playing on both sides of the ball and getting that mental and physical endurance throughout the training camp, because that’s what he’s going to have to do in games.
“So ultimately, we’re building a foundation right now of both sides of the football, but he’s going to have to do both in practice because that’s what the game is going to be like, and we’ll sit down and reevaluate what we did this spring to see what’s the best moving forward.”
Training camp is just a few weeks away, and so is the preseason. By then, there will be a much clearer picture on Hunter’s role.