Patriots draft profile: Travis Hunter is a unicorn

Scouting report for the Colorado State cornerback/wide receiver hybrid, who projects as one of the top picks in the draft.

The 2025 NFL Draft may not be as top-heavy as last year’s, but there are a few blue-chip prospects available who very well could be on the New England Patriots’ radar. Two names in particular stand out.

One is Penn State edge Abdul Carter, who we already profiled earlier this month as a potential target. The other is the most unique prospect to enter the league in quite a while, and a player whose skillset is looking for its equal at the moment: Colorado’s Travis Hunter, who is widely regarded as both the No. 1 wide receiver and the No. 1cornerback in this class.

Even though him being available with the fourth overall pick seems like a long-shot at the moment, he is a fascinating player worth taking a closer look at.

Hard facts

Name: Travis Hunter

Position: Wide receiver/Cornerback

School: Colorado

Opening day age: 22 (4/5/2003)

Measurements: 6’0 3/8”, 188 lbs, 76 7/8” wingspan, 31 3/8” arm length, 9 1/8” hand size, N/A Relative Athletic Score

Experience

Colleges: Jackson State (2022), Colorado (2023-24)

Career statistics: 30 games (30 starts) | 1,292 offensive snaps, 1,871 defensive snaps, 91 special teams snaps | 217 targets, 171 catches (78.8%), 2,167 yards, 24 TDs, 4 drops (1.8%) | 3 carries, -5 yards (-1.7 yards/carry), 1 TD, 2 fumbles | 85 tackles, 9 missed tackles (9.6%), 3 TFLs, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery | 131 targets, 69 catches surrendered (52.7%), 921 yards, 6 TDs, 9 INTs

Accolades: Heisman Memorial Trophy (2024), Chuck Bednarik Award (2024), Fred Biletnikoff Award (2024), Paul Hornung Award (2024), Lott Trophy (2024), Walter Camp Player of the Year (2024), Consensus All-American (2024, 2023), First-team All-Big 12 (2024, First-team All-Pac-12 (2023)

Playing both wide receiver and cornerback at Collins Hill in Gwinnett County, GA, Hunter was named Georgia High School Player of the Year on two occasions and rated a five-star recruit. Despite getting courted by some of the most prestigious schools in the country, he pulled a shocker out of his hat on signing day: Hunter committed to FCS-level Jackson State or, more specifically, to head coach Deion Sanders.

The highest-ranked recruit to ever sign with an HBCU and FCS school, Hunter spent one season at Jackson State. Starting all eight of the games he appeared in, he led the team with 2 interceptions and also caught 18 passes for 188 yards and 4 touchdowns. When Sanders took the head coaching job at Colorado after the season, Hunter decided to transfer alongside him and eight of his teammates.

In Boulder, his career really took off. Even though he played only 22 games, Hunter established himself as arguably the most exciting player in college football. A two-time consensus All-American and winner of the 2024 Heisman Trophy, among several other individual accolades, he caught 7 interceptions as a cornerback as well as 153 passes for 1,979 yards and 20 touchdowns as a receiver.

Hunter decided to forgo his senior season to enter the NFL Draft. He met with the Patriots at the Scouting Combine, where he decided not to do any on-field workouts.

Draft profile

Expected round: 1 (top 4) | Consensus big board: No. 1 | Patriots meeting: Combine

Strengths: His versatility to play both wide receiver and cornerback at a high level has been well-documented, and it is one of the main selling points when it comes to Hunter as an NFL prospect. What makes him so unique is not just his two-way potential, though, but his outstanding athletic profile in combination with his ball skills and natural instincts.

As a receiver, Hunter is a three-level target capable of threatening every blade of grass. His explosiveness out of his stance is notable, as is his straight-line speed and ability to change direction on the fly without much of a deceleration. He is as quick as he is fast and confident running vertical as well as horizontal patterns, both in the underneath and the deeper portions of the field.

Hunter’s ball skills are superb, among the best that we have seen coming out of college. He is a natural hands catcher who knows how to work back to the football, and is able to offer the full package as far as this part of the process is concerned: he has the concentration, the hand-eye coordination, the body control and the length and catch radius to haul in almost every pass — by his own quarterback or his opponent’s — thrown his way. He can adjust to inaccurate passes while also having the awareness to adjust his tempo relative to the coverage he is either playing or facing.

On offense, Hunter is a successful zone beater who has a good feel and vision for finding soft coverage spots. Likewise, those instincts also help him out on the defensive side of the ball; he is comfortable operating in open space but also has the size, speed and length combination to be a factor in man-to-man coverage. While more of a (still developing) technician than a mauler, he is competitive in press-man situations on either side of the line of scrimmage, and knows how to use the sideline to his advantage when on the perimeter.

Hunter mirrors opposing receivers well, with his physical skills and knowledge of the wide receiver position evident on a frequent basis. The old saying about cornerbacks being wide receivers that cannot catch does not apply to him: he is a wide receiver playing corner, and can run stride-for-stride with his assignments because of his feel for route combinations.

Weaknesses: Hunter has all the skills in the world, but there are some questions entering the NFL. He is not the most powerful player as evidenced by four career pass rushing snaps and will have to adjust to an uptick in competition and play strength at the next level, both as a receiver and a cornerback. He also won’t see nearly as much open space as he did in college. Furthermore, he will need to continue to develop his patience in coverage and to rely on technique as much as physical ability on both offense and defense.

Finally, he has a noticeable injury history going back to his high school days at Collins Hill. Missing a combined eight games in three college seasons — five in 2022 (ankle) and three in 2023 (liver) — that history in combination with his somewhat slender build might have an impact on his plans to become a two-way starter in the NFL.

Patriots preview

What would be his role? Hunter has stated his wishes to play full-time on both sides of the ball, and based on his college career and immense talent there is a chance he accomplishes that goal one day. Entering the NFL, however, it seems likely that his primary focus will be on one position; when it comes to the Patriots, that position projects to be wide receiver. He would immediately slot into a WR1-type role as a Z/X hybrid capable of winning on the perimeter and giving Drake Maye a volume target capable of serving as a go-to-guy on off-script plays.

Long-term, though, Hunter’s biggest potential may lie at cornerback. While he would likely start out as a package player on that side of the ball to help in passing or late-down situations, his potential in the secondary is sky-high — higher than at wide receiver, in our estimation. The only reason why we are projecting this route rather than a CB-to-WR development plan is the Patriots’ current roster composition; the cornerback group is far more settled than wide receiver at the moment.

What is his growth potential? Hunter has definitive two-way potential even at the pro level, and could one day be a 100/100 player on a regular basis. There are questions about durability and stamina, though, which might prevent him from developing into an every-down player on both sides of the ball. As far as his outlook at his two positions is concerned, our projection can best be summed up like this: he has Pro Bowl-to-All-Pro potential as a receiver, and All-Pro-to-Defensive Player of the Year potential at cornerback.

Does he have positional versatility? Well… yeah. We have spoken about his versatility to perform on offense and defense, but one lesser-mentioned aspect of his game is his ability to play on special teams. He only played 91 total snaps in his college career in the game’s third phase, but has the electric skillset to potentially contribute as a returner as well. That said, if he is serious about playing two-way, it might be best to limit his exposure in the kicking game.

Why the Patriots? Even though they have no major need at one of his two positions, Hunter would be a no-brain add to the Patriots’ roster. He has star power the team simply is lacking, can be a difference-maker on both sides of the ball from his rookie season on, and projects as one of the best cornerbacks in football as well as a No. 1-type receiver further down the line. Regardless of how the board fell, he would be the best player available at the fourth overall pick because he is the best player in the draft as a whole.

Why not the Patriots? There really is no serious on- or off-field argument against drafting Hunter from a Patriots perspective. The much bigger problem, and the reason why he is unlikely to be available at No. 4 overall, is that other teams will likely feel the same way: if he does not get picked a No. 2 by the Cleveland Browns, he likely will be scooped up by the New York Giants one pick later. The chances of him making it past this duo of teams, or of New England trading up, appear to be slim-to-nonexistent at the moment.

One-sentence verdict: If for whatever reason Hunter falls past the Browns and Giants, the Patriots would be sprinting to the podium to pick him up — as they should considering that he is one of the most unique and high-ceiling draft prospects in recent memory.

What do you think about Travis Hunter as a potential Patriots target? Please head down to the comment section to share your thoughts.