The Jacksonville Jaguars gave up an eye-watering haul in the 2025 NFL Draft to move up from No. 5 overall to the No. 2 spot, taking reigning Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter with the expectation that he is going to play on both sides of the ball as both a cornerback and wide receiver.
Despite Hunter himself being adamant that he can play on both sides of the ball and the Jaguars themselves seemingly being very confident in his ability to do so, not everyone believes that the NFL's answer to Shohei Ohtani will be able to keep his act going for very long.
An NFL executive told Mike Sando of The Athletic that he is pessimistic regarding the viability of Hunter playing both ways at the NFL level. On top of the fact that Hunter will spend half his practice time learning how to play a certain position, an injury could throw the entire plan out of whack.
“I can’t name a dual-threat guy who played both ways at the level they are drafting him at,” the executive said. “Deion Sanders? Rod Woodson? They all settled into whatever their position is. As soon as he gets one injury and is out for three weeks, he is going to one side of the ball.”
NFL executive doubts Jaguars' Travis Hunter can play CB and WR in NFL
Hunter's old college head coach, Deion Sanders, believes that No. 12 can play both ways in the pros, citing the fact that he has done it in a faster-paced college game with less time in between plays.
However, Hunter will need to master an NFL scheme on both sides of the ball, all while trying to do his job against elite athletes on both sides of the ball. If Hunter shows poor form on one side, will the Jaguars be patient enough to let him work through his mistakes?
While players like Sanders himself have moonlighted on both sides of the ball in the past, the full-time two-way player went the way of the dinosaur before the Super Bowl era. It's not unreasonable to say that what the Jaguars are trying to do with Hunter is quite literally unprecedented.
Even with those concerns, if anyone who has come into the league in the last few years can accomplish this task, it is Hunter. There will be some bumps in the road, but Jacksonville seemingly remains determined to turn Hunter into a Pro Bowl cornerback and wideout.