Can Travis Hunter really play both offense and defense in the NFL? Champ Bailey knows the obstacles.

Chicago Tribune

24-04-2025

BOULDER, Colo. — Take it from Hall of Famer Champ Bailey, one of the last true two-way stars to come out of college: Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter will have his hands, feet and head full trying to play both wide receiver and cornerback in the NFL.
'It's easy to just say, 'Oh, yeah, he can go play both,'' Bailey said. 'Well, there's so much preparation that goes into playing one thing. So you've got to consider: What is it going to take to do everything all the time like he did in college?'
Digesting two playbooks.
Navigating concurrent position meetings.
Convincing coaches that switching back and forth from one side to the other won't diminish his effectiveness or learning curve on either side.
Then there's the mental toll, the physical toll, the emotional toll.
'It's almost unrealistic when you think about it,' Bailey said. 'But we're looking at one of the greatest athletes we've ever seen. It changes your mindset to think he could possibly do this. I'm not going to rule it out.'
Few can relate to what Hunter did in college — and will try to do in the pros — better than Bailey, who won the Bronko Nagurski Award as the nation's top defender in his final season at Georgia in 1998, when he picked off three passes and also starred on offense, catching 47 passes for 744 yards and five touchdowns.
Bailey, however, would play almost exclusively at cornerback in the NFL after being drafted at No. 7 by Washington in 1999. During his 15-year pro career, Bailey saw just nine targets at wide receiver.
Five of them came in 2000, when he caught three passes for 78 yards to go with five interceptions. But coach Norv Turner was fired midway through Bailey's second season, and Turner's replacement, Marty Schottenheimer, squelched Bailey's ambitions to dabble on offense.
'So it's all about timing,' Bailey said. 'What if he was my coach my first year? I would have never played offense.'
Bailey suggested that for Hunter to really get a chance to be a two-way player in the NFL, he'll have to land with the right team, coach, teammates, scheme — on both offense and defense — and schedule plus the proper amount of patience.
Hunter is widely expected to get drafted second by the Cleveland Browns — who need help at both of his positions — Thursday night after the Tennessee Titans take Miami's Cam Ward as their new quarterback to kick off the 2025 NFL draft.
Hunter told the Browns, and every other team he met with, not to bother selecting him if they're not going to let him line up on both sides.
Deion Sanders, the Hall of Famer who played defensive back and wide receiver in the NFL — he had two interceptions and a touchdown catch in 1996 for the Dallas Cowboys — was Hunter's coach at Jackson State and Colorado and had no qualms about letting him play both ways.
Sanders, however, allowed Hunter to take several days off after games to recuperate, a luxury he won't have in the NFL.
Last season Hunter caught 96 passes for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns and collected 35 tackles, 11 pass breakups, eight forced incompletions and four interceptions while allowing just one touchdown.
He logged a whopping 1,461 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. By way of comparison, NFL Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II played 978 snaps in 17 games last season, all on defense.
It's unlikely Hunter will be able to play every snap in the NFL, Bailey said, so the biggest decision for the team that drafts him is which side will be his primary position. Scouts are divided on whether it would be best for him to be a cornerback who gets a handful of offensive snaps or a wide receiver who occasionally plays in sub packages on defense.
'It's rare to have corners with length and athleticism and ball skills all wrapped up into one. He has that. So any defensive-minded coach is going to say, 'We want you over here,'' Bailey said. 'But you can't ignore that he had 1,300 yards this past year. That's a significant amount of yards to ignore in his production on offense.'
Which position is primary will have an enormous impact on Hunter's career.
'Fit is everything,' Bailey said. 'There are so many moving parts to this.'
Bailey added that Hunter needs a head coach who won't allow his offensive and defensive coordinators to fight over him, and he said if the position meetings for defensive backs and wide receivers are held at the same time, Hunter would be putting in hours of overtime every day to catch up.
Then there's negotiating the learning curves on the field.
'You've got to learn how to communicate with your safeties, your other corners, anybody that's on your side,' Bailey said. 'Once you get that down and you understand the terminology of the defense, you can pull back a little bit from the mental side of it — a little bit — if you're playing offense.
'But it's risky because you leave some stuff out there. It's just he has to put in more time.'
What would be easier, to be a full-time cornerback and part-time wide receiver or vice versa?
'It's both hard,' Bailey said. 'That's my thing. Doing one by itself is hard.'
One thing Bailey is sure of is that Hunter needs to take his shot at playing both ways while he's young.
'If I had to bet on it, I would say he'll be at one position down the road,' Bailey said. 'I don't know what it would be because he's so exceptional at both. But right now with his youth and his bounce, he's a great athlete right now, he's fresh. You don't want to wear him out but you also want to utilize what you have.'
Originally Published: April 24, 2025 at 3:51 PM CDT