Summer Scouting: Should Colorado's Travis Hunter Play WR or CB?
Hunter's position will be discussed a lot this coming season.
Colorado’s Travis Hunter is among the most unique players I’ve ever scouted.
Hunter is the first player I’ve ever scouted who can legitimately play on both sides of the ball. After transferring from Jackson State to follow Deion Sanders at Colorado, Hunter played 567 snaps at cornerback and ran 304 routes at receiver in 2023.
He was productive at both spots, recording three interceptions and six passes defended at cornerback and 57 catches for 721 yards and five touchdowns at receiver. No matter where Hunter lined up, he was must-watch TV.
Naturally, the question becomes how Hunter’s NFL transition will go. Should he play cornerback, where most evaluators believe he’s best? Or should he play receiver, where he can make more of a direct impact on the ball?
There’s also the nuclear option. Is Hunter the NFL’s Shohei Ohtani? A player who can legitimately play two completely different positions at the professional level.
Let’s watch some Travis Hunter and film to figure out how NFL teams should view him heading into a crucial 2024 season.
Travis Hunter, The Cornerback
Zone Coverage - Ball Skills
Let’s start with his play at cornerback since most analysts tend to agree that’s where Hunter is at his best, and it’s not hard to see why. Hunter’s instincts and playmaking ability jump off the screen, especially when in zone coverage.
He does an excellent job falling off his assignments to make impressive plays on the ball. His downhill burst and elite ball skills let him make incredible INTs like this one against UCLA.
Hunter’s football intelligence stands out throughout his film. He’s constantly lurking in underneath zone coverage, baiting quarterbacks to test his window before closing it down or forcing the quarterback to go elsewhere.
It’s incredibly rare to see a cornerback with Hunter’s instincts for the position. The number of anticipatory and heads-up plays on his film surpasses that of players with four years of starting experience.
It’s even more impressive, considering Hunter also plays receiver and only has one season of Power Conference on his resume. Cornerback is a part-time job for him, and he plays the game with the mental acumen of a professional.
All three of Hunter’s interceptions were impressive plays on the ball. He’s an excellent ball tracker, and unlike most cornerbacks, he will secure passes that hit him in the hands more often than not.
He can also make impressive body adjustments in the air and when going to the ground. This gives him an impressive sphere of influence despite having what appears to be modest length.
Man Coverage
The other part of Hunter’s game that impressed me the most was his movement skills. Throughout last season, he showed off some uber-smooth change-of-direction skills in man coverage.
He’s explosive in a straight line and quick in tight spaces, the perfect combination for an NFL outside cornerback.
He worked in plenty of press and off alignments, showing good patience at the line of scrimmage and the ability to mirror and match through breaks. Hunter’s knack for maintaining speed through his breaks and accelerating out of them allows him to stay in phase quite well.
A lot of college cornerbacks struggle with comeback routes. Hunter shut many of those down across the four games I watched. He wasn’t giving up easy yards at any point.
With all that in mind, Hunter possesses some negative traits in man coverage. For starters, his press technique can be slightly inconsistent. He sometimes false steps, causing him to lose vertically or on in-breakers.
When he’s beaten, Hunter also has a tendency to get grabby instead of remaining composed and trying to get back into the play with his above-average short-area burst. It wasn’t called much in college, but the same mentality will get him called for many more penalties in the NFL.
This last issue is the least concerning of the three. His long speed looks a little bit mundane. Don’t get it twisted; Hunter isn’t “slow.” However, he seems to be missing a true third gear sometimes.
Again, he won’t run a horrible 40-yard dash time or anything, but he’s not going to light up the track, either. Plenty of successful man coverage corners have average speed, so it’s hardly a death sentence.
Hunter has the tools to be a successful man coverage cornerback, but he needs a lot more polish, especially compared to his work in zone.
Travis Hunter, The Wide Receiver
Ball Skills - Movement Skills
To say Colorado needed Hunter on offense last season is an understatement. The team’s offense without him on the field looked much more limited.
Hunter mostly operated from the slot in the games I watched, but he also had plenty of reps on the outside. Just like his tape at cornerback, Hunter’s change-of-direction skills stood out.
He can get in and out of route breaks with incredible smoothness and explosiveness. This makes him an impressive natural separator at all three levels of the field. Obviously, his ball skills translate well here.
Throughout his tape, he made several impressive body adjustment catches. He tracks the ball well and can make late adjustments in the air or when going to the ground. However, Hunter failed to finish a few catches through contact, especially when going to the ground.
We didn’t mention this in the cornerback portion, but Hunter’s a tad underweight right now. He’s listed at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, and looks wiry on tape. He can struggle to battle more physical cornerbacks — and more physical receivers — pulling his contested catch skills into question.
Route Running
Hunter has all of the natural traits to be an excellent route runner. His quickness, smooth transitions, and short-area acceleration all point to a player capable of winning on horizontal breaks and vertical routes.
That said, his tape at Colorado is filled with simple route concepts, which don’t allow Hunter to show off. Right now, he’s a pretty raw route runner. Hunter did most of his damage on slants, drags, and nine routes.
He did show a good ability to identify zone coverage and sit his route down, which is something playing cornerback obviously helped him with. He’s also good at attacking blindspots on vertical routes downfield, which he probably picked up playing cornerback.
If Hunter wants to commit more to wide receiver, and Colorado’s offense gives him more responsibility, there’s no reason he can’t have a complete profile for the 2025 NFL Draft.
He’s not a vertical burner, and he probably won’t become an elite route runner this season. However, he can be more than good enough and still have a nice development track when entering the league.
Cornerback? Receiver? Both?
Based on film, Hunter’s best position is cornerback, and I’d wager it’s not even close. Now, that is not to say he’s a bad receiver. It has more to do with how good his cornerback tape is than anything else.
Hunter finished with a high first-round grade on my board at cornerback and a firm Day 2 grade at receiver. It's wildly impressive that a player gets two solid grades at two completely different positions.
What makes Hunter’s cornerback tape so much better is his natural instincts. At cornerback, Hunter doesn’t even look like he’s trying. He makes so many impressive plays that could only come from someone meant to play cornerback at the next level.
His receiver tape is solid, but he’s much more raw in that area. He looked a little more uncomfortable running routes as opposed to covering them.
Simply, there’s something special with his upside at cornerback. He’s got the skills to be an All-Pro and an instant difference-maker.
At receiver, he profiles more as a high-end WR3 or low-end WR2. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s nothing compared to what he could do in the secondary.
That’s what the film tells us, but what about compensation? Players must make all the money they can because few things in the league are guaranteed. Would Hunter benefit financially from playing receiver?
The wide receiver market has exploded in the last two seasons. Justin Jefferson’s latest deal made him the highest-paid non-quarterback yearly at $35 million AAV. Jaire Alexander owns the highest AAV at cornerback, earning $21 million.
Hunter’s rookie deal would be based on where he’s drafted, not his position. However, players always try to position themselves for a strong second contract, and receiver looks like the better option.
To be fair, the cornerback market should open up soon. Patrick Surtain II is due for an extension, and Sauce Gardner becomes extension-eligible after this season. Still, it wouldn’t be crazy for Hunter to look at the NFL’s current emphasis on star receiver talent and try to make it work.
So, what about both?
I hate to be a party pooper, but asking Hunter to legitimately play both sides of the ball in the NFL is not a good idea. It’s hard enough to develop a young player at one position, let alone two.
That doesn’t mean Hunter can’t have the occasional snap where he runs a route, and giving him a small package shouldn’t be out of the question, either. But asking him to do what he did in college last season against NFL athletes is absurd.
It’s also an injury concern. The wear and tear on a player’s body playing offense and defense with no break in between can’t be good for long-term health. Hunter missed time with injuries last season, and you can see him looking tired at the end of certain games.
It’s cool to imagine him playing both ways in the NFL, but it’s unrealistic. Still, Hunter’s an impressive prospect who will be one of the most exciting storylines in the 2025 NFL Draft.
For my money, he can be a special, elite NFL cornerback.