Featured Columnist IVDecember 15, 2024
Wealthy Graessle/Icon Sportswire through Getty Pictures
For the following a number of months, the talk surrounding Travis Hunter’s future within the NFL can be firmly centered on whether or not he ought to primarily play cornerback or extensive receiver.
Jay Glazer of Fox Sports activities mentioned he spoke with 13 totally different normal managers and head coaches concerning that subject and mentioned the “overwhelming” consensus was that Hunter ought to deal with cornerback.
FOX Sports activities: NFL @NFLonFOX
What place do NFL entrance workplaces see Heisman Winner Travis Hunter enjoying subsequent season?@JayGlazer has the most recent ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/eKCrruRNBL
The bulk cited Hunter’s “elite ball abilities” and famous that it is “simply so exhausting to discover a shutdown nook like that. Nonetheless, they all mentioned—though we begin him at cornerback—we might undoubtedly discover packages and performs for him on the offensive aspect of the ball.”
Hunter’s two-way affect finally earned him the Heisman Trophy, alongside a slew of different awards this season.
On the offensive aspect of the ball, he caught 92 passes for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns. Defensively, he notched 31 tackles, 4 interceptions, 11 passes defensed and a compelled fumble regardless of opposing quarterbacks typically ignoring his aspect of the sector.
FOX Sports activities: NFL @NFLonFOX
“He’ll probably be the primary non-QB chosen.”@PSchrags reacts to Travis Hunter profitable the Heisman, and has the most recent on Maxx Crosby. pic.twitter.com/NoeVK1WzSZ
Within the fashionable sport, Hunter’s true two-way standing is extremely distinctive.
“They sprinkled me on the market [on offense] once they wanted a play. I did not do an entire lot of offense,” Charles Woodson—who received the Heisman Trophy again in 1997 as a cornerback, receiver and returner—instructed Ralph D. Russo of The Athletic. “Travis really performs either side of the ball. You may say he is a two-way participant that performed protection, however I am nonetheless the one defensive participant to win it.”
Taking part in full-time on either side of the ball feels unrealistic within the NFL sport, nevertheless. For one, it is a longer season enjoying in opposition to the largest, strongest and quickest gamers on the planet. The bodily toll is actual.
However the NFL sport can also be advanced, and anticipating Hunter to deal with the intricacies of each an offensive and defensive sport plan could be a serious ask. Most faculty applications would not have allowed Hunter to do what he is executed, however Deion Sanders and Colorado provided him that freedom, and it labored out fairly properly.
It does appear almost certainly that Hunter can be drafted as a cornerback and groups will construct a pleasant bundle of performs for him on the offensive aspect of the ball. Sanders was used similarly in his Corridor of Fame NFL profession. Not a nasty path for Hunter to comply with.
