When I was a kid back in the 1980s, I loved those old Topps Football Sticker Book Albums. If you’re in my age range, you remember getting the book and buying packs of stickers as you looked to fill up the album with your favorite players. Every time I went into my local drug store and saw those packs on sale, I did everything I could to get my mom to buy me a couple. The desire to get those packs and fill that album was difficult to resist.
That will be the case for managers and Travis Hunter in 2025 fantasy football drafts.
Much like those stickers that I wanted so badly, there’s a sort of thrill in the prospect of having Hunter … not in your sticker book album of course, but on your fantasy football team. That’s because Hunter is a unicorn in the world of professional football -- a wide receiver on offense, and a cornerback on defense.
The last time the NFL had a full-time, two-way player was Chuck Bednarik … and that was back before the start of the Super Bowl era. A Hall of Famer, he played as a center on the offensive line and a linebacker on defense in his first eight seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. He played 14 years (1949-1962) in all and was inducted into Canton’s Halls in 1967.
Eagles LB/C Chuck Bednarik was the last full-time NFL player to play both sides of football, and that was more than 60 years
Eagles LB/C Chuck Bednarik was the last full-time NFL player to play both sides of football, and that was more than 60 years ago. / David Boss-Imagn Images
Bednarik didn’t think there would ever be another full-time, two-way NFL player, either.
In a 1993 interview with Sports Illustrated, he said there was, “no way in hell [a current NFL player] can go both ways. They don't want to. They're afraid they'll get hurt. And the money's too big, that's another thing."
He even went on to criticize Deion Sanders, who played cornerback and wide receiver for one season (1996) with the Dallas Cowboys.
"He couldn’t tackle my wife Emma," Bednarik said in an interview with Philadelphia Magazine. "He was supposed to be the next two-way football player. My ass!"
Speaking of Sanders, he is the closest comparison to Hunter because he played both sides of the football at cornerback and wide receiver for one year (1996). Ironically, he was also Hunter's collegiate coach.
In that 1996 campaign, Sanders was targeted 67 times, caught 36 passes for 475 yards and scored one touchdown … and he stopped playing both sides of the ball after Week 13 (12 games). After that, he had just one target in the final four regular-season games and one more (and a carry) during two postseason contests. While there’s no way to find out how many snaps he played or how many routes he ran (the data doesn’t go back that far), my guess is that he ran out of steam.
The following season, Sanders was targeted once and played exclusively as a cornerback. Over the final five seasons (66 games) of his NFL career, Sanders saw just 24 more targets. So, even a superior athlete like Sanders (who played professional football and baseball) wasn’t able to remain a full-time, two-way player for a full NFL season. And that was back in 1996, when teams played just 16 games and the postseason hadn’t yet been extended.
Cowboys CB Deion Sanders played one season as a two-way player, but he failed to make much of a fantasy impact as a wideout.
Cowboys CB Deion Sanders played one season as a two-way player, but he failed to make much of a fantasy impact as a wideout. / Tony Tomsic-Imagn Images
In this day and age, Hunter is going to have a hell of a time playing both sides of the ball on a full-time basis. I’m not saying he can’t do it, but it’s going to be a tall task.
In his final year at Colorado, Hunter played 1,552 snaps between offense and defense per PFF. By comparison, the wide receiver with the most snaps in FBS was Syracuse's Trebor Pena ... with 566!
That’s 986 fewer snaps than Hunter, who played 753 snaps on offense and 799 snaps on defense. That snap count is over just 13 games, or four fewer than he’ll play in the NFL. If we projected his average snaps played over 17 games, he would have played 2,030 snaps!
That would be 975 more snaps than Jerry Jeudy, who played the most snaps (1,055) among NFL wide receivers last season. Tyreek Hill played 900 snaps in 17 games in 2024, so Hunter would be playing more snaps than two starting NFL wide receivers combined. Hell, I need to sit down and drink a Gatorade just thinking about how much Hunter would be playing!
If you’re wondering, the defensive back with the most snaps played in the last NFL season was Carolina free safety Xavier Woods with 1,211. Strong Safety Andre Cisco led all Jaguars defensive backs with 974 snaps, and their top cornerback, Montaric Brown, played 851.
All of this data, of course, is dependent on if Hunter is actually going to be a full-time, two-way player. And from a fantasy standpoint, playing more snaps at wide receiver is vital to him having any sort of consistent value in traditional (non-IDP) fantasy football leagues. Based on the recent comments of Jaguars general manager James Gladstone, the team isn’t even sure what Hunter’s “first” position will be during his rookie campaign.
“I do think there's a little bit of a misconception in that it's wide receiver first, corner second as much as it is the learning methodology of wide receiver through this phase, and then continuing to trickle in more defense, since that is his primary background," Gladstone told SiriusXM, much to the dismay of fantasy footballers who don’t receive defensive points.
Gladstone went on to talk further about his plans for Hunter this season.
"Our understanding that Travis is most naturally comfortable, most naturally in tune on the defensive side of the ball, we wanted to load him offensively throughout this [offseason] window to ensure that by the time we got to training camp, we had a runway built up on that side because there's so much more nuance, so much more adjustments in real time on the offensive side of the ball that would require a lot more learning," Gladstone said.
Jaguars GM James Gladstone doesn't seem certain how much Travis Hunter will play at cornerback and wide receiver as a rookie.
Jaguars GM James Gladstone doesn't seem certain how much Travis Hunter will play at cornerback and wide receiver as a rookie. / Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Once again, these comments from Gladstone are concerning for fantasy fans … but Hunter is on record as saying he wants to play both ways full-time. Personally, I hope he can do it. I love NFL history, and Hunter pulling off this stunt would be epic, like a club fighter, Rocky Balboa, beating the heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed, in the Rocky movies.
Hunter is 22 years old and in peak physical condition. His Jaguars coaches and teammates have already compared him to the Energizer bunny because he just keeps going and going and going. Maybe early in his career, he’ll be able to pull this miracle off. Maybe he’ll have enough juice to play both sides of the ball and run enough routes to be a fantasy asset.
But what happens after he plays 1,900 snaps in Year 1, or 3,800 combined snaps after his first two years? Does Hunter burn out after a few years or even worse, get injured (after all, he’ll be on the field more than any other NFL player maybe ever!). And in that scenario, will be play just cornerback or wide receiver?
Time will tell, and I can’t wait to see what Hunter turns into both on the field and in fantasy football. I’m rooting for him to be a fantasy star.
But much like those old Topps Football Sticker Book Albums and sticker packs I clamored for as a kid, will Hunter end up getting lost in NFL lore (or in my mom’s basement like those old albums)? Or will he make history and become the next Bednarik, but with fantasy value?
I know I’ll be getting some shares of Hunter in fantasy drafts, but I also know there’s plenty of risk involved. Before you decide to draft Hunter, you need to know those risks too.