Travis Hunter Likes It Both Ways
We’ve kind of forgotten about Travis Hunter since draft day because the drama of Jacksonville trading up for him was eventually overshadowed by the monumental slide of his college teammate. Of course we’ve also forgotten about Hunter because he went to the Jaguars, one of the places hype goes to die. But Travis Hunter is a rare prospect, the likes of which no one outside some grandpas out there can remember seeing the likes of. A true two-way player, in 2025. Pretend Baseball doesn’t exist for this because I know some chucklefuck is going to bring up Ohtani.
We’ve had a couple multi-sport athletes in the past 30 years. Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders being the big names everyone knows. But those two guys played two sports, not two major positions on opposite sides of the ball. Full time. Deion played most of his baseball when football wasn’t playing. Travis Hunter is on the field pretty much constantly for 4 quarters, only taking certain plays and special teams off (According to Google he even played a number of ST snaps). I wish I had this kind of endurance.
But that was all in college. For a smaller team. I believe the vast majority of NFL fans have significant skepticism about his ability to translate that to the NFL. Can Travis Hunter hold up on both sides of the ball at the highest level? That’s the million-dollar question. That means he has to learn two systems at once. You can get by in college off sheer athleticism but that ability to skate through on pure instinct narrows significantly on the top shelf. If Hunter is able to play both sides, will he actually be good at either one? The Jaguars might be able to fill two roster spots with one guy, but where does the value drop off if that one guy peaks at Mid? If he is able to play on both sides, how long will he be able to hold up in such a brutal sport before he has to pick a specialty out of necessity?
The thing is I don’t believe Hunter is going to play both sides in Jacksonville on a consistent basis. I believe he’s going to spend most of his time on offense (Liam Coen is an offensive HC and they need to justify Trevor Lawrence at this rate) and then play more limited, selective snaps on defense. We might see games when he starts out playing a lot on one side and ends the game mostly on the other side. The advantage you have with this guy really is that he can be used selectively. He can be a decoy. He can slot in for certain game-time situations. He can fill in for injured players at the positions. Hunter might not end up the best WR or CB that he can be if he chose a side but if he’s good enough he could be the most versatile weapon in the NFL. Hell, maybe there is even a chance he does become football’s Ohtani. That would be cool.
I want to see him have at least one game this year where he scores on both sides of the ball, with a TD catch and a pick-6. If we can get that out of him, I’ll be happy. If he does it against Daniel Jones in Indy I will laugh extremely hard.
As an Arena League fan since the 2000s (before Elway ruined the league; BTW I’m Kurt Warner’s Arena Bowl Ring for those who were here in 2016), I’m used to Ironman – but that still doesn’t make what Travis Hunter is doing any less special.
Literally only Deion as a WR4 for the Barry Switzer Cowboys cuz Jerry & Troy Brown as a DB for the 04 Patriots due to a metric ton of injuries for NE have played both sides of the ball even close to routinely since the merger. You’d have to go all the way back to Concrete Charlie on the 1960 Eagles to find someone excelling at a top level on both sides of the ball.
Everyone talks about ’04 Troy Brown (and for good reason) but no one talks about ’11 Julian Edelman playing snaps at DB (in the AFC Championship Game, no less) because of how beat up that unit was – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVLsk8FsPmM.
Generally, I’ll agree with you, but specifically… my neighbor, a diehard Pats fan, talked NONSTOP about Edelman having to help out on defense.
> one of the places hype goes to die
Dies with a whimper like the Coen’s “dUvaLl?!?”?
Didn’t Deion play cornerback and wide receiver too? I remember his “offense or defense?” “Both.” commercial back in the day.
He dabbled in WR a tiny bit, I wouldn’t say he was a true two way guy, certainly not for long. He was more a CB and special teams ace
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like if this whole 2-way star thing works at all, it’s in that way: an ace DB who gets thrown in on gadget plays every now and then. It feels like a better use of his athleticism to me, at least.
I just feel like DB has got to be way harder to jump into here and there than WR where specific plays and concepts can help get you open. Like, what strategic advantage is there to bringing on a guy to guard someone 1-on-1 as a CB when he may already be banged up or gassed from the previous drive? At the very least, I’m really interested to see how it goes!
I agree with this completely and it was what I was convinced was going to end up happening with Travis Hunter. It’s far easier to play defense full time and come in for occasional, specialized snaps on offense where you don’t have to learn as much and can be schemed into big plays. With Travis, they’d just expand that a bit more, so instead of getting 2-3 plays on offense max, he’s getting closer to 15-20 since he’s got more experience playing that side of the ball. It’s the easiest way to get the best out of him on both sides imo.
Honestly at the intensity and pace the game is played today in the NFL, I find it hard to believe anyone could really have the sheer cardio to effectively play both ways full time.
Is this bi erasure and his girlfriend is a semi-beard? Let’s tune in and find out.