Here’s which position some NFL players think Colorado star Travis Hunter should play in the league

Colorado superstar Travis Hunter is one of the rarest prospects to enter the NFL Draft in recent memory — and maybe ever. Hunter was a true two-way player for the Buffaloes, playing full-time at both cornerback and wide receiver. 

He was widely considered one of the best in the nation at both positions, and there is legitimate debate about which position he should play when he gets to the NFL. That debate even extends to players who are currently in the NFL, according to The Athletic.

Several of their beat writers talked to players whose teams might be in position to draft Hunter about how he should be utilized by the team lucky enough to secure his services. Among the six players surveyed, three of them chose cornerback … and actually, none of them chose wide receiver. Not unless they also chose cornerback, at least.

Here were the responses:

The players who stated that Hunter should simply be a corner all spoke about how his rare ball skills would make him one of the very few best defensive backs in the NFL. 

“There’s a big gap between the first corner in the league and the 20th corner in the league, a massive gap,” Slayton said. “So, (on) ball skills alone, Travis Hunter would probably automatically become one of the 1-2-3 most dangerous DBs in the league, just off his ability to pick the ball up. Most corners can’t even track the ball and pick it up. I think he’d be really, really rare as a corner.”

It’s certainly interesting that none of the players who spoke with The Athletic thought that Hunter should be strictly a wide receiver considering he had 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. But that just proves how special a talent he is on the other side of the ball.

It’s also much easier for a player to be a full-time corner and a part-time wide receiver than the other way around. Given the various personnel groupings offenses use, there are plenty of opportunities for even an important offensive piece to rest. But when you’re supposed to be a top corner, you probably play 90% of your team’s snaps or more, and it’s more difficult to just rotate into the mix. 

It seems highly likely that whichever team drafts Hunter will at least let him try to go both ways — even if it’s just as a part-time receiver. He’s too special a talent not to give him the opportunity. But if it doesn’t work out, he can always fall back on potentially being one of the league’s best defensive backs.