The road to the 2025 NFL Draft has officially begun as the big-name prospects will become the media focal point for the next few months. Travis Hunter is arguably the best player available in this year’s class, and plenty of people have speculated on the two-way star’s NFL future.
Recent interviews have seen NFL insiders and former players weigh in on whether Hunter should play offense, defense, or both.
Insider, Former Players Don’t Think Travis Hunter Can Play Both Ways
Hunter was one of the most exciting players in college football over the last two seasons. The true junior won multiple awards in 2024 while playing both ways at receiver and cornerback. His accolades from the 2024 season include the Heisman Trophy, Walter Camp Award, Biletnikoff Award (nation’s best receiver), and Bednarik Award (nation’s best defensive player).
Playing both ways takes an extreme toll on a player’s body, so professionals tend to stick to one side, with cameo appearances on the other side when needed. Whoever drafts Hunter will ultimately decide where he plays, but he’s shown his body can handle double duty by averaging a whopping 113 snaps a game in 2024.
His final season at Colorado was the stuff of legend. In 13 games he had 96 receptions for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns. He also recorded 36 tackles, four interceptions, and 11 passes defended — video game numbers from the 21-year-old.
Fox Sports NFL insider Jordan Schultz recently went on “Scrap the Playbook” with Adam Kester and gave his thoughts about Hunter.
“Travis Hunter is seen as a truly generational prospect. I don’t know if he goes one, two, or three, but he is viewed as a true can’t-miss, once-in-a-generation. Not once in a decade — once-in-a-generation type of player,” Schultz said. “Whoever gets Travis Hunter is going to be extremely happy because he’s that special. If I’m the Giants at three, if he falls in your lap, that makes a lot of sense.”
PFSN agrees with Schultz, as Hunter is slated to go third to New York in its latest 2025 NFL mock draft.
Kester asked Schultz the question on everyone’s mind, “Do you think whoever drafts him will let him play both sides of the ball?”
Schultz responded, “I’ve asked a lot of people this. He’ll get an opportunity to do some of it. Some teams view him as a top-tier receiver and some view him as a top-tier corner, and he won both awards. The guy won the Biletnikoff, it’s insane. I would imagine that whoever drafts him is gonna give him an opportunity to do some of it … but the stats tell us that if you’re playing both, now all of a sudden your risk of injury goes a lot higher.”
Super Bowl 53 MVP Julian Edelman echoed Schultz’s thoughts in a recent interview, saying, “I just think the durability, he’s a specimen, but that durability factor, when you play more football, you take more hits, you’re on the field, there’s more opportunity for you to get hurt.”
This is a factor Hunter and the team that drafts him will have to consider in determining how much two-way football he plays.
Schultz continued, “He’s such an investment, such a franchise guy, I don’t think he’ll play a lot of each, but there certainly will be a place for him to play both. And he’ll be dynamic on special teams. He could be the best punt returner in the league right away. I’ve talked to GMs who have said he’s one of the best athletes they’ve ever seen, period. There’s a video of him dunking. He’s an absolute freak.”
READ MORE: Travis Hunter NFL Draft Hub — Scouting Report, Player Profile, Projection, and More
The insider spoke about fellow Colorado Buffalo Shedeur Sanders before wrapping his comments: “With Shedeur and Travis, because they come from Colorado with Prime [Deion Sanders] and it’s a show … fans will unfairly say, ‘Well, they’re going to be a distraction.’ I’ve been told you’re not going to get any of that from either one of them. And Deion, to his credit, yes, it’s a show, but there’s also a lot of substance. They won a lot of games.”
No one denies that Hunter is one of the best football prospects to come out of college in recent years, but three-time Pro-Bowler LaVar Arrington doesn’t think playing both ways full-time is the right move for the Heisman winner.
"He's not gonna be a true two-way player like what he did in college…The worst thing that could happen to a Travis Hunter is he not settle into what his home position is…If he can't master the art of what he's doing, you do him a disservice."
🎙️@LaVarArrington pic.twitter.com/gLniWAAAkH
— FOX Sports Radio (@FoxSportsRadio) February 15, 2025
“He’s not going to be a two-way player … like what he did in college, that’s just not going to happen. I mean, that’s the reality of it. It would take a perfect storm … it would take Deion Sanders coaching at the pro level for him to be a true two-way player, to get that opportunity. That’s just not how it works,” Arrington said.
“The worst thing that could possibly happen to a Travis Hunter is he not settle into what his home position is. You can use him on the other side of the ball, but if you try to muddy those waters, I just don’t think that that’s good for his opportunities and his development to have true success at the next level. There’s been some really, really talented guys that have played both ways … but that’s just not ideal.”
Double duty allows Hunter to showcase his ability, but Arrington makes a good point about his development. Putting multiple NFL playbooks on a rookie and expecting immediate greatness could set him up for failure.
The two-time All-Pro continued, “Devin Hester could have played pretty much any position skill-wise on the football field. Ultimately, if you ask me, he was able to get into the Hall [of Fame] — he was so extraordinary as an athlete and as a player … but it really kind of in a way did not allow for him to have the type of impact that he really could have had if he had just had a position.”
Hester came into the league as a return specialist who played cornerback and transitioned to receiver by the end of his career. He was a no-doubt Hall-of-Fame player as a returner but he never rounded out to a consistent impact option on either offense or defense; Arrington wants a more defined path for Hunter.
“I can put him in there at times to run [end-arounds] and different things like that, but if that man can’t really settle into mastering the art of what it is he’s doing at the position he’s playing, I think you do that young man a disservice by spreading him thin like that.”
Arrington is warning teams not to screw up a generational talent by giving him too much too soon. Hunter has brilliantly proven he can handle both sides of the ball in college, but he could be in for a rude awakening at the next level.
