Travis Hunter will be a member of the Browns on Thursday night. Cleveland is poised to take the two-way phenom with the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft, and at this point the only thing that could throw a wrench in that plan is if a last-second trade opportunity emerges that’s too good to pass up.
Teams have wrestled with Hunter’s NFL position for much of the pre-draft process. Is he a wide receiver who will play a little corner? A cornerback who could see snaps at wide receiver? It’s an embarrassment of riches when it comes to a player who won more awards in a single season than any college football player in history. Hunter won the Heisman for player of the year, the Bednarik for defensive player of the year, and the Biletnikoff as the nation’s top receiver — these are only some of his accolades.
It’s been pretty clear during this process that the Browns were dialed in on taking Hunter. Heck, when your GM compares a prospect to Shohei Ohtani it’s the clearest sign that they’re sold on a guy. And while that comparison to Ohtani might seem ridiculous, it’s really not that far off. The same way Shohei turned baseball on its head with his hitting and pitch ability, so too is Hunter about to become one of the very few, true two-way players in the history of the modern NFL.
During the burgeoning days of professional football it wasn’t uncommon to see two-way players. Much of this tended to be out of necessity in the infancy of the NFL, and it often led to the best athletes on a team filling multiple roles. Look no further than the league-leading 1933 New York Giants. Tailback Frank Newman led the team in passing, rushing, and was 5th in receiving yards.
Sammy Baugh had one of the most preposterous seasons in football history in 1942 when defensive statistics were tracked for the first time. Baugh led Washington in passing, played defense and recorded a team-leading five interceptions. He also returned kicks, and was Washington’s punter. Baugh literally did it all.
The two-way athlete fell by the wayside as football evolved. Coaches honed strategy and refined the game to shape players into single-purpose weapons. It was better to have scalpels at every position, rather than Swiss army knives — making the idea that anyone could play two positions a gimmick, rather than a tool.
Deion Sanders changed all that. When Prime was poised to hit the NFL in 1989 he was one of the most stunning all-around athletes the country had ever seen. A top cornerback at Florida State, a lights-out hitter on the baseball team, and even running track. There was nothing Deion couldn’t do, but it wasn’t really until 1996 with the Dallas Cowboys that he was unleashed as a true two-way player. While Sanders had dabbled in taking offensive snaps in Atlanta and San Francisco, the Cowboys made him a dedicated weapon. That season he started 15 games at corner, and finished with a career-high 475 yard receiving. It might not have been Sanders’ best season in the NFL, but it was his most diverse.
From here the term “two way player” became a little labored. Sure, we had guys who occasionally played snaps on both sides of the ball, but “two way” tended to refer exclusively to players who were either on offense of defense, but played special teams — often as a big-time returner like Devin Hester or Dante Hall.
Kordell Stewart is regarded as one of the last, true two-way players in the NFL who didn’t participate in special teams. While the Steelers’ QB exclusively played offense, Stewart did blend passing, receiving, and rushing to become a unicorn in football of the late-90s. In 1998 Stewart threw for over 2,500 yards, he ran for 406 yards, and lined up at receiver as a decoy on numerous occasions.
Troy Brown came next, but in a slightly different way. The former Patriot transitioned from being a starting receiver for the bulk of his career, to pivoting to DB when he slowed down in his 30s. Brown often appeared on both sides of the ball — still, we didn’t see anyone play quite like Deion did.
That changes on Thursday night. Travis Hunter will be the first player in over 30 years to compete on both sides of the ball like his Colorado coach Deion Sanders did — but unlike Sanders, Newman, Baugh, Stewart or Brown: There’s legitimate debate about what his best position might be. Hunter is a true unicorn. An impact player on both sides of the football, and he does it without needing a special package or gimmick to make it work. He’s just such a stellar athlete with an eye for the ball that he could legitimately play two starting positions in the NFL — and that is wholly unique.
Now it’s all about how the Browns will use him, and how far the coaching staff will go to put him on the field and let him cook.
