Travis Hunter is set on blazing a trail in the NFL. He was already the first player in college football to play significant snaps on both sides of the ball and win the Heisman Trophy in the process, and now he’s hoping to take that dual-threat ability to the highest level.
The only problem is, getting hit around in college isn’t even close to being the same as getting hit in the NFL. And Hunter's proclamation that he wants to play every snap on both sides comes across a bit irrational; Hunter is a generational talent, but we've never seen anyone even come close to that sort of usage in the pros.
During the NFL Combine, he decided to compare himself playing both sides of the ball to Shohei Ohtani both hitting and pitching in MLB. But I’m not sure you want to compare yourself to Ohtani when it comes to durability: Ohtani has had his share of injuries, and if we can all agree that football is more physically straining than baseball, imagine the toll you’re going to put on your body playing wide receiver and cornerback in the NFL.
Travis Hunter’s risk factor only goes up with incredibly bad Shohei Ohtani take
No NFL team is seriously considering playing Hunter as much as possible on both offense and defense. It wouldn’t make any sense; NFL players already have durability issues playing their primary position. Playing two a game and upwards of 100 NFL snaps for 17 games is just irrational. And the risk that’s involved with that for a projected top-five pick just doesn’t add up. A franchise would never subject themselves to that kind of risk.
Honestly, Hunter shouldn’t either. I could see if he was a player that was primarily a receiver who happened to be inserted into the secondary situationally. But planning on playing him every snap of his career on both sides is irresponsible.
Hunter should realize that, too. Availability is too valuable. Players rotate in and out of the NFL every year. Players miss chunks of their careers to injury all the time and they are only playing one side of the ball.
The physical strain he will put on his body playing both sides would see an elite athlete’s career diminish before it ever had a chance to take off. The Los Angeles Dodgers threw a 10 year, $700 million contract at Ohtani because he was an elite two-way player ... and yet he didn’t make one start on the mound in his first season in Southern California. That should tell you everything you need to know about the limits of the human body, even for high-level athletes.
Hunter, you’ve already proved you can excel on both sides of the ball in college. Why risk serious injury to unnecessarily do it in the NFL?