CAN’T WAIT TO SEE TRAVIS HUNTER IN THE NFL, BUT NOT AT 2,000 SNAPS A SEASON
He won’t have to retire because the Cleveland Browns compare him to Shohei Ohtani, yet at some point soon, his franchise won't want him playing full-blown football at cornerback and wide receiver
So far, anyway, Travis Hunter doesn’t have to announce his retirement. The Cleveland Browns will use him on defense and offense, as he demands, and management went so far to accept his judgment — he’s mightier in any ethereal capacity than Shohei Ohtani. You might not agree. I’m not sure about a kid who played two ways in college and has no idea what happens next.
Let him talk. The NFL draft is Thursday.
“Probably me, what I do in football, because it’s a lot on your body,” Hunter said. “You know, Ohtani, he’s a great player, but you got to do a lot in football.”
Whether he has watched Shohei — who hit 54 home runs and stole 59 bases last year, after finishing 25-14 as a pitcher the previous two years — isn’t really the point. Hunter is dreaming when his body won’t hold up physically over at least 17 games, if he thinks he can be Justin Jefferson on offense and Patrick Surtain II on defense. We understand he should be an All-Pro as a cornerback, following the path of his coach at Colorado, Deion Sanders. We do not know how he’ll perform as a receiver, with many insiders believing a package would help the Browns — expected to select him at No. 2 — but not buying into a full-blown, dual-threat opportunity.
“I would prefer that he didn’t,” said Charles Woodson, who only played corner in the league after playing two roles at Michigan. “If I was an NFL team, having a guy as talented as him, I would play him on defense. But I would have some packages for him on offense.”
“I don’t know if there’s enough hours in the day,” said John Harbaugh, head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. “I would think on one side of the ball and then have some sort of a package on the other side of the ball, which is my guess on how the team will do it.”
Will that be enough to suit Hunter, who won the Heisman Trophy, the Bednarik Award as best defensive player and the Biletnikoff Award as best receiver? He told CBS Sports that he’ll quit if his team doesn’t prepare him for two prongs.
“It’s never playing football again,” Hunter said. “Because I’ve been doing it my whole life, and I love being on the football field. I feel like I could dominate on each side of the ball, so I really enjoy doing it. I just feel very confident in myself. And I got a competitive spirit that I can do whatever I put my mind to, and I feel like I can do it. They say, ‘Nobody has ever done it, for real, the way I do it.’ I tell them I'm just different.”
The good news, at the moment, is that Browns general manager Andrew Berry senses a breakthrough. Is he simply a happy man on draft night? Or does he mean it? In college, Hunter played 1,484 snaps last season — 2,625 the last two seasons while missing four games with injuries — and those numbers are wearisome just looking at them. Unlike Woodson, Berry considers Hunter a receiver first, which is odd. His quarterback room features 40-year-old Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, who has been traded twice.
“In terms of Travis, cornerback or receiver? The answer is yes. He can play both,” Berry said. “I think that's what makes him special. I think what makes him a bit of a unicorn is the fact that he can do it at a high level. It’s a little bit like Ohtani. If he’s a pitcher or hitter, he’s an outstanding player. You obviously get a unicorn if you use him both ways. We necessarily wouldn’t put a cap on or govern in terms of what he can do.”
Don’t consider Cleveland a godsend for a football hotshot. Johnny Manziel failed. Baker Mayfield lived in the stadium — a commercial — and needed to escape to find a career in Tampa Bay. The pressure will be intense for Hunter and girlfriend Leanna Lenee, who were heavily trolled online and are set for a wedding in May. Deshaun Watson buried the Browns. Can Hunter bring them back at 21?
One reason he wants two jobs: the jackpot in his second contract. If he managed to star as a cornerback and receiver, wouldn’t he want Jefferson’s $35 million a year AND Jalen Ramsey’s $24.1 million a year? Hunter might want to play a few games before the right decision, though he does employ Lil Wayne as his agent.
“To be honest, I think I just need to see if my body will allow me to take all of this and continue to take all this,” Hunter said. “But I do a lot of treatment, so I’m able to keep up with my body and with what I need for my body. I don’t feel unique, I feel just like a normal person. I’m just a normal person that got the ability to do some special things.”
Not to douse fantasies, but a trip to watch Ohtani might awaken him about the future. He had his second Tommy John surgery in 2023 and still hasn’t returned to the pitching mound. “Still a couple months away,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I know that's still vague, but we're just trying to get to the next step and see where we're at. But certainly expect him to pitch for us this year and through the postseason.”
At some point, an executive or coach will say no to Travis Hunter, at least to some degree. He doesn’t have to quit. His career should be magnificent with some wisdom.
“It’s not like it hasn’t been done, but he’s done it at a whole other level in college,” Sanders said. “So why not?”
Why not? Oh, 2,000 snaps a season.
###
Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.