If Hunter reaches his full potential on offense and defense, he may have the most valuable contract in sports, maybe even more than Ohtani.
Travis Hunter has a chance to be the NFL‘s first truly transcendent two-way superstar.
The 21-year-old phenom won the Heisman Trophy at Colorado last year for excelling at both wide receiver and cornerback, leading most experts to project the quick, athletic football multi-hyphenate to be taken second overall by the Cleveland Browns in Thursday’s NFL Draft. The Browns ended up calling an audible at the last minute, trading the pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who used the position to take Hunter at No. 2.
When Commissioner Roger Goodell called Hunter’s name to the stage in Green Bay, he wanted to make sure both his positions were mentioned.
“You obviously get a unicorn if you use him both ways,” Browns General Manager Andrew Berry told reporters last week at a pre-draft news conference, comparing him to the ultimate two-way superstar, Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani’s two-way brilliance as a hitter and a pitcher famously earned him a 10-year, $700 million contract — $460.8 million in present-day value when factoring in the deal’s deferrals, according to Spotrac — with the Los Angeles Dodgers. When healthy enough to pitch, Ohtani’s elite ability on both sides of the ball helped him garner that massive payday that, in many ways, is undervalued even before factoring in his astronomical off-field impact for the Dodgers.
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In that sense, Hunter not only fits the mold but also has a unique opportunity to break it.
“Hunter has the talent and ability to be a top-10 wide receiver and top-10 cornerback in the NFL at the same time, which is something we have never seen before,” Dane Brugler, The Athletic‘s national NFL writer covering the Draft, told Boardroom. “His versatility to impact the game is extremely unique. And it isn’t just the athletic talent, but also the mental commitment it takes to do both that is so impressive.”
How valuable was Hunter to Colorado’s 9-4 season in 2024? He racked up 96 receptions, 1,258 yards, and 15 touchdowns in 13 games at receiver and led the Big 12 with four interceptions at cornerback. His 1,481 total snaps played were nearly 300 more than any other player in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.
How could that production translate at the NFL level?
“He could be an All-Pro on defense,” Brugler said, “but he can still be a Pro Bowl-level receiver on offense as well. And for several teams, that will have more value. The Browns, for example, need a spark on offense, and he would give it to them.”
Since Hunter was drafted second overall, he’ll sign a four-year, $41.1 million rookie-scale contract paying $7.47 million in his rookie season. And if Hunter ultimately reaches the potential ceiling Brugler and teams across the league have been raving about, his contract in the NFL’s salary cap landscape could hypothetically exceed Ohtani’s in on-field value.
Right now, the average annual salary of the NFL’s 10 highest-paid wide receivers is about $32.1 million, per Over The Cap. The average annual salary of the 10 highest-paid cornerbacks is about $22.3 million. If one player can reach the value of both those players, then you’re talking about one of the greatest assets in football, considering NFL teams only have a finite amount to spend on their rosters, unlike baseball.
Now, of course, Hunter’s play most certainly won’t be worth $50-plus million right away. As Brugler noted, Hunter’s snap count playing both offense and defense will increase gradually, rather than attempting to take on an enormous workload right away. If the Browns, let’s say, want to primarily play him at receiver as a rookie, he’d only see limited time in the secondary at the outset of his career.
“But there is no doubt that he offers additional value because of his ability to stay on the field,” Brugler added.
If that additional value grows to the point where Hunter reaches his full, elite potential on both sides of the ball, there would be a case to be made for Hunter to earn as much as any player in the league, top quarterbacks included.
“If he stays healthy and handles two-way responsibilities throughout his rookie contract,” Brugler said, “the talks about his eventual contract extension will be fascinating.”
The incredible standard Ohtani’s set for a two-way player in any sport makes comparisons to the three-time MLB MVP appear inevitable. If given the opportunity by the team that ultimately selects him, Hunter seems to have the ability to meet that standard and command the most valuable contract in pro sports: one elite player at one slot under the salary cap who plays two elite positions.
The football world eagerly awaits the results of this experiment.
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