If the Cleveland Browns truly plan on drafting Travis Hunter with the No. 2 pick, it better be to use him as the two-way star he was at Colorado. The Browns using Hunter as just an offensive or just a defensive player is simply a waste of a pick.
It seems the Browns have every intention of using Hunter on both sides of the ball just like he intends. After all, that’s why he won the Heisman Trophy and why he’s even a top 5 potential pick to begin with.
Hunter is a tremendous athlete. The fact that he played nearly every snap of every football game he played in is remarkable. Football is a violent sport and despite it, he’s shown elite durability, considering he’s playing 100 snaps per game.
While that’s not a conducive system to being productive in the NFL, the Browns can find a way to maximize his skillset with their team and essentially kill two birds with one stone, adding a cornerback and wide receiver packaged as one player.
The Cleveland Browns can solve two problems by drafting Travis Hunter
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated proposed a great idea of how the Browns could utilize Hunter. Essentially, he’d primarily be a defender who would have a package of plays on offense.
This is ideal in the sense that the Browns need a true No. 2 corner. Denzel Ward is the No. 1 lockdown option but he has injury issues and usually misses a few games each season.
Martin Emerson isn’t quite a true No. 2 option and Greg Newsome would rather celebrate a quarterback overthrowing a receiver by 10 yards than actually play defense. Hunter could line up opposite of Ward and even as a slot corner in certain packages.
When it comes to offense, Hunter could be a player that comes in on third down or plays around 20 to 30 percent of the offensive snaps. Obviously he’s not going to get the ball every play so he’d have the energy to produce on both sides.
What the Browns can’t do is just use him as a gadget player on offense. He’s a player that can actually impact the game and he needs to be used as such. That said, he shouldn’t be playing every offensive and defensive snap.
To get the most out of Hunter, the Browns need to use him primarily as a cornerback, even a safety. Then find ways to use him in the offense where he’s not overused but also doesn’t have the entire offense built around him.