Top Two Teams In Draft Split On Colorado’s Travis Hunter

While the quarterbacks have garnered plenty of attention at the projected top of the 2025 NFL Draft, many recent prospect rankings have Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter as the No. 1 overall prospect, usually joined at the top by two-way Colorado athlete Travis Hunter. If Hunter does end up contending for one of the top two picks in the draft, it could mean two drastically different possibilities for his future in the NFL.

Hunter was a unicorn at the collegiate level of football. While we’ve seen players in the past like Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey, and Chris Gamble play through college on both sides of the ball full-time, Hunter did so while being a top-four player on his team in snaps played on both offense and defense and while grading out on Pro Football Focus (subscription required) as the best defensive player for the Buffaloes and the second-best offensive player. In the entire nation, Hunter’s 86.3 offensive grade slotted him as the seventh-best receiver in the FBS, while his defensive grade of 88.2 slotted him as the seventh-best cornerback in the country, as well.

His elite, dual-threat athleticism helped Hunter to become the first non-quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy since 2020 (DeVonta Smith) and the first player who played significant snaps on defense to win the award since 1997 (Woodson). In addition, he became the first player in college football history to win both the Chuck Bednarik Award for the nation’s best defensive player and the Fred Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s best wide receiver.

The NFL will be a different story for Hunter, though. In Boulder, coaches knew that, because of the heightened load of playing on both offense and defense on Saturdays, Hunter would need a lightened load in practice during the week. It was also impossible for Hunter to attend both offensive and defensive meetings (as well as broken-down meetings with individual position groups) simultaneously, so he had to budget his time between meetings. Due to the giant learning curve that often accompanies rookies making the jump from college to professional football, that likely won’t fly in the NFL.

So far, the reports we’ve seen coming out of scouting circles have favored Hunter as a cornerback in the NFL who can play in certain packages on offense. This would follow in the footsteps of Woodson, Bailey, and Gamble, who all became defensive backs as pros. Despite the majority seeing this as the probable outcome, there have certainly been a number of teams who are reported to view him as a wide receiver first. It just so happens that one of those teams has the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. Per NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe, Titans head coach Brian Callahan and general manager Mike Borgonzi view Hunter primarily as a cornerback, while Andrew Berry, general manager in Cleveland, says Hunter is “a unicorn” that they view primarily as a wide receiver.

That means that, if both teams decide to pass up on quarterbacks and Hunter pushes Carter for the honor of top prospect, Hunter’s NFL future could be decided on if he’s selected No. 1 by the Titans as a corner or No. 2 by the Browns as a receiver. After Tennessee spent a third-round pick and a four-year, $76.4MM extension to watch L’Jarius Sneed be one of the worst cornerbacks in football last year, per PFF, the Titans could use a boost in the secondary. Hunter would also be a solid addition to their wide receiving corps, but with Calvin Ridley, Tyler Boyd, and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, he’s not necessarily needed for every possession.

In Cleveland, while Denzel Ward continues to play at a high level, the Browns could certainly use improved performances around him from young guys like Martin Emerson, Greg Newsome, and Cameron Mitchell. On offense, though, Hunter would immediately step in as WR2 behind Jerry Jeudy. With Elijah Moore entering free agency, the Browns next two returning receivers would be Cedric Tillman (339 yards, three touchdowns) and Michael Woods (65 yards, no touchdowns).

On both teams, it’s clear Hunter could provide a massive improvement to either side of the ball, and perhaps on both sides of the ball, if either team is willing to work him there. The difference between Tennessee’s and Berry’s assessments seems to do less with roster needs and more with personal analysis. While the quarterbacks are sure to keep things interesting atop the first few picks of the draft, if Carter and Hunter end up trending around Nos. 1 and 2, it will be interesting to see exactly how the chips fall and what it will mean for Hunter’s professional career.