INDIANAPOLIS – MLB has Shohei Ohtani. The NFL has Noway Ohtani.
The prevailing opinion from former players, general managers, coaches and reporters at the NFL combine is that Travis Hunter should stick to one side of the ball.
That would be a mistake. No two ways about it.
Don’t cut off the unicorn’s horn. We already have enough standard horses in the stable.
The worst thing a team drafting him could do? Don’t let him try to play cornerback and receiver.
“They say, ‘Nobody has ever done it, for real, the way I do it,’ but I tell them, ‘I’m just different,’” Hunter said Thursday at the largest media scrum for any player this year. “I am a diehard for football. I love to compete. I would like to play both.”
So, let him. Give him reps. See if his 6-foot-1, 185-pound body can hold up against NFL players in OTAs and training camp.
Hunter is trying to accomplish a feat no player has achieved full time since Chuck Bednarik in 1962, so he inspires skepticism. The calls for him to focus on one position will only intensify as the draft creeps closer in April.
When scouts re-watch the film of Hunter dropping off his man and diving in front of a short route for a pick against TCU, they want him at cornerback. When scouts see him turn his body into Gumby on a touchdown reception against North Dakota State, they want him at receiver.
And they will only learn more about the man, not the athlete, this week. Hunter is meeting with teams, but not working out.
NFL GMs and coaches insist Hunter is capable of doing anything he wants. But will they let him?
Titans coach Brian Callahan, whose team owns the first pick, believes Hunter will likely settle in at cornerback. Browns GM Andrew Berry, who has the second pick, views Hunter as “primarily a receiver.”
Ask 32 teams about the Heisman Trophy winner, and expect 16 different answers. It drives home the point that he possesses the skillset to do both. To say nothing of the mental capacity.
Has it already slipped our minds that he posted a 4.0 GPA at CU, adopted a professional body recovery routine, watched film on his own and worked with coaches in private to prepare for his double duty?
Because Hunter draws headlines, there will be those who believe keeping him as a two-way player is about entertainment. There is some truth to that — and buzzkill teams like the Titans, Browns, Giants, Patriots and Jaguars could use the jolt. But there is another reason to want this: It is realistic.
Hunter did not dabble in duality. He played 1,483 snaps for the Buffs last season and only missed parts of two games. He could log a similar number in the pros with 1,000 on defense and 340 — or 20 a game — on offense.
Yes, a case can be made for why Hunter would have more impact as a one-way player. Exposing him to fewer snaps would, in theory, also reduce his injury risk.
But teams that win big in the NFL chase ceilings. They see special talent and cultivate it, build around it. Being really good at two positions carries more value than being great at one and adds significant roster flexibility.
And let’s be honest, if Hunter becomes a great corner, opponents will shy away from him, making his impact more esoteric than obvious. At receiver, he can get five targets and take a slant screen 60 yards for a score.
It is easy to forget now, but Ohtani attracted the same doubters. Every time he slumped with the Angels, there were cries for him to focus on the mound because of the importance of starting pitching. Then after he blew out his elbow — twice actually — calls came for him to function as a position player.
By doing both, he has become a three-time MVP with 225 home runs and 38 wins. It does not make sense. But he’s not like anyone else. Sound familiar?
Steve Palazzolo offers a unique perspective. He was a 6-foot-10 minor-league pitcher who helped build the football scouting model at Pro Football Focus for more than a decade before joining The 33rd Team as an analyst.
“I didn’t think Shohei could do it. I have seen good hitting pitchers before. As a guy who hit .250 in Triple-A, where 86 mph fastballs looked like 98, I wasn’t expecting to see him perform at such a high level,” Palazzolo said. “I think it’s going to be tough for Hunter to do it in the NFL. I hate to doubt it. But I would have said the same thing in college and look at what he did. I am rooting for him.”
It is not as clean for Hunter as Ohtani. Baseball is really an individual sport. For Hunter to pull this off, he needs complete buy-in from a team. The head coach must support him and let all of the easily annoyed assistants know that Hunter will miss meetings to accommodate both tasks.
The most seamless route is to have him practice at cornerback and install multiple packages for him at receiver. He will have to play enough on offense for his presence not to be a tell in games.
And, like Buffs did at CU, the team needs to have one coach on the sideline prepping Hunter between snaps and during timeouts on what adjustments he needs to make.
At this point, Hunter understands the decision to do both is no longer up to him.
But come on, don’t take the wag out of the puppy’s tail. Not yet. Give him a chance. Let the kid play as a two-way.
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