The Jacksonville Jaguars certainly have in interesting conundrum on their hands with rookie WR/CB Travis Hunter. Obviousy, a big part of Hunter’s intrigue is the fact that he not only can play both sides of the ball, he really wants to play both sides of the ball.
So far at OTAs, the Jaguars have been using him primarily on offense, with opportunities to mix him in on defense, but it’s still so early. Former New York Jets general manager and current ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum disagrees with the Jags’ approach to deploying the former University of Colorado star and Heisman Trophy winner.
“I would do the complete opposite,” Tannenbaum said recently on NFL Live. “I would play him at corner, get him comfortable there, and after that give him a very small package on offense, 10-15 plays, third down, redzone. And I think that would put him in the best position to be successful. I think he is in the impact corner from day one, put him outside man to man, he can play either side because he is so explosive as well.
“And I think you want to put him in a position to be successful and not put too much on his body. Like you said, he is a lean guy; he will get stronger over time. I think that is the highest and best use of his time, to get familiar with the defensive side and give him impactful plays on the offensive side, and not give him the full playbook.”
Tannenbaum makes a good point
The Jaguars are obviously eager to see what Hunter can do for them on the football field, but they need to be patient and it seems like they are. It must feel like buying a brand-new 2025 Ferrari 12Cilindri and then being told by your dad that you can’t drive it yet.
Hunter, however, seems flexible on how he’s handled at the NFL level.
“It’s not my job to figure it out,” he said before the 2025 NFL Draft. “If they give me the opportunity to play both sides of the ball, I’m going to play both sides.”
But, to get the most out of Hunter, their best bet is to pick one side of the ball and slowly work him in on the other. So, Tannenbaum’s idea makes more sense. While you can work a wide receiver in at cornerback in here and there, it would be easier to have a full-time corner that you create packages for on offense. If you’re a starting CB on the defense, you kind of need to be out there all the time. Wide receivers are much easier to move in and out of formations and situations.
A brief background on two-way NFL players
When talking about “two-way” players in today’s NFL, it’s certainly different than how the term was used in the pre-Super Bowl era. We aren’t talking about former Philadelphia Eagle Chuck Bednarik or the New York Giants Mel Hein. Both played center on offense and linebacker on defense, and both are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Those kinds of players are long gone.
There are some recent examples of NFL players who played both sides of the ball. The most notable examples of guys who played cornerback and wide receiver are Deion Sanders, Troy Brown (played CB out of necessity), Adoree Jackson (not much offense), Devin Hester (let’s be honest, he’s the best return man in NFL history that was incorporated into the offense and defense) and Julian Edelman. None of them were full time on both sides and were worked in here and there when needed.
Hunter is a different animal because there is legitimate speculation about whether he could do both all the time. That’s a terrible idea, at least for right now. As it is, Hunter has to make the tremendous jump to a 17-game season (he’s on the Jaguars, so there probably won’t be any playoff games). Asking players to learn just one position in the NFL is a Herculean Task, so throwing the book at him on offense and defense would weigh anyone down. If overloading him means that he’s not effective at wide receiver or corner, then why would you draft him at all?
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