Travis Hunter is headed to the NFL after arguably the best two-way season in the history of college football. He dominated with the Colorado Buffaloes as both a wide receiver and cornerback. His outstanding play earned him the Heisman Trophy over Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, who nearly broke Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record.
However, many NFL Draft experts do not think Hunter can succeed in playing two positions in the NFL.
Shannon Sharpe Explains Why Travis Hunter Can’t Play 2 Ways in the NFL
On Friday, Feb. 14, Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson released an episode of their “Nightcap” podcast. One of the first topics they covered was the news that Hunter would be entering the NFL Scouting Combine as a cornerback.
Shannon Sharpe was a fan of this move because he believes he is better off primarily playing CB in the NFL. Sharpe says Hunter can have a few receiver packages, but he thinks the Colorado star will have better success as a CB in the NFL.
“Talking to everybody, they’re like, ‘Play him at corner and give him some packages [at WR].’ What we were saying, everybody was jumping on us, ‘Why can’t he play every snap on offense on defense?’ Because he can’t. Y’all just want to argue the fact with people that have played the game, that have studied the game. We ain’t no casuals. We know what it takes to play at an elite level.”
“[Deion Sanders] didn’t play every snap of offense and defense. You talking about one of the greatest athletes who ever played. He played two sports professionally [NFL and MLB]. We see a lot of guys who play two sports collegiately. We’ve seen a lot of guys who played a lot of sports in high school. How many guys have you seen play two sports professionally and be great? I’ve only seen two, him and Bo [Jackson].”
The decision on whether Hunter will be a two-way player in the NFL will come down to the team that selects him. As things stand, Hunter looks likely to be a top-five pick. He is widely viewed as one of if not the best players in the draft.
However, all three of the top three teams could be interested in a QB. As a result, Hunter could be in a position to fall a few spots but still be a top-five pick regardless of his talent level.