2025 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Profile: Travis Hunter, WR/CB Colorado
We are only a few years removed from the emergence of Shohei Ohtani as a dominant two-way player in fantasy baseball leagues. He is truly a unicorn, a player who has the capability to be the best hitter in the league, and one of the best pitchers in the league. There was debate about whether he could do both at the Major League level, but those debates went out the window the second he took the ball. The only thing that can hold him back is his health, which has popped up several times in his career.
The football world may have their answer to Ohtani in this year’s NFL Draft Class: Colorado’s Travis Hunter.
The Stats
Hunter’s FBS stats, courtesy of Sports Reference.
Hunter has been on a collision course with the first round of the NFL Draft since high school. In four years of football at Collins Hill, he totaled 3,963 receiving yards and 48 touchdowns, to go along with 116 tackles and 19 interceptions. A two-way stud through-and-through, he was widely considered one of the best recruits in the nation in the class of 2022. He received and accepted a scholarship to play at Florida State, one day after making his first visit to the school. A year and nine months later, he shocked the world by decommitting from FSU, deciding to play for coach Deion Sanders at Jackson State University. He became the first five-star recruit to ever sign with an HBCU or FCS school.
His college career with the Tigers got off to a rocky start when he suffered an injury in the first game of the season that kept him out until week seven. He only played in seven games that freshman season, but he made an impact on both sides of the football. He caught 18 balls for 190 yards and four touchdowns. Defensively, he made 19 tackles, caught two interceptions, and returned one of them for a touchdown. He helped lead the Tigers to a 12-0 regular season and a SWAC championship. They lost that year’s Celebration Bowl to NC Central, despite two touchdowns from Hunter.
When Sanders left Jackson State for Colorado, Hunter followed his coach to Boulder to finally play FBS football. In his debut game, a 45-42 upset win over TCU, he played 147 total snaps across offense and defense. He was dominant, catching 11 balls for 119 yards, while making three tackles and an interception on the other side. Despite missing three games with an injury, he had an incredible season, all while playing an average of 115.1 snaps per game (568 defensive and 437 offensive). He had 57 receptions for 721 yards and five touchdowns offensively. On defense he had three interceptions and 30 tackles. He was a consensus All-American and was recognized as the most versatile player in college football with the Paul Hornung Award.
As impressive as his 2023 season was, 2024 blew it out of the water. He played 1,458 plays from scrimmage, 382 more than any other player in the country. He set career-highs with 96 catches, 2,258 yards, 15 touchdowns, 35 tackles, four interceptions and even forced his first career fumble. He won the Heisman Trophy and was the consensus National Player of the Year. He’s also the first player in College Football history to win both the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver, and the Bednarik Award as the nation’s top defensive player. He became the first player to ever win the Paul Hornung Award in consecutive years. Colorado calls Hunter “the most decorated non-quarterback in NCAA history.”
The Film
For more film, check out Hunter’s DLF Profile.
In the game above, Hunter caught 10 balls for 116 yards and three touchdowns against Oklahoma State in his final regular season game. It’s an absolute masterclass of a performance for him, especially on the final two touchdown catches. On the second, he shimmies out of the defender’s grasp by faking out and then coming back in. On the third touchdown, he goes up and catches a long one through plenty of contact at the point of the catch.
In his offensive film, he is a savvy route runner with the ability to manipulate his defenders with speed changes and head moves to create separation. He’s at his best in scramble drills, coming back to the line of scrimmage and finding openings in the defense when his quarterback needs him the most. He has strong hands and leaping ability to dominate the jump ball game. He has breakaway speed when he needs it, but he doesn’t get to that top gear often. That could possibly be to conserve energy. Nobody else in football played more snaps than he did over the last two seasons, and it isn’t very close. He’d go into cruise control at times while running routes – that will be a challenge to being a two-way player in the pros.
Defensively, 2024 was his best season at cornerback. He’s a playmaker, with a receiver’s hands and skillset. If he gets a chance to make a big play, he’s going to go for it. He has some technical areas that need improvement, but if an NFL staff wants him to play cornerback, they’ll work out those issues with him.
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As a receiver last season, Pro Football Focus gave him a grade of 86.3, the highest of his career. The defensive side of the ball was even better, 88.2, also the highest of his career. He truly is a unicorn who is destined to have an outstanding career in the NFL. He can do it all. The major question for his NFL team, and for his fantasy managers, is how much of it all is he going to do? Will he be a full-time receiver who sprinkles in some defensive snaps? Will he be an offensive joker while playing every defensive snap? Or, will he continue to play a full complement of snaps on both sides of the ball? According to him, it’s up to the team that drafts him, but he’s willing to do it all.
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The Measurables
Image courtesy of NFL.com.
Hunter did not participate in any of the on-the-field testing and drills at the NFL Combine. He did get measured, and there are no red flags in his measurements. He is a bit underweight at just 188 lbs., but Ladd McConkey measured out to the same height and two pounds lighter at last year’s NFL Combine. The Big 12 conference will hold their Pro Day event March 18-21, so that will be the first time we’ll see him participate in any drills.
The Value
Hunter’s mock draft history, courtesy of NFL Mock Draft Database.
Hunter is nearly a lock to be a top five draft pick in Green Bay next month. In fact, the only thing that may be keeping him from being locked in as the number one pick may be the thing that makes him so unique, his versatility. His NFL team has to have a plan to take advantage of that versatility, or else they’re wasting their pick. Teams may prefer the luxury of checking off one box with their pick, either at quarterback or edge rusher.
Odds on what team will take Travis Hunter, courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
Right now, the odds and the consensus mock drafts have Hunter going to the New England Patriots, though I expect he will be taken earlier than the fourth overall pick. If he does go to the Patriots, the question will still be in the air about what position he will play primarily. New England has a desperate need at wide receiver, but they absolutely need a cornerback opposite Christian Gonzalez as well. Of the four teams with the highest odds, the Patriots have the best quarterback of the group, so if he is going to primarily be a wide receiver, that would be a great landing spot for his fantasy value.
Data from DLF One Quarterback ADP
He’s currently the 42nd wide receiver selected in DLF Startup Dynasty drafts, 80th overall. He’s being valued just after Courtland Sutton, and just before Davante Adams. His rookie draft ADP is 10th overall, the fourth wide receiver drafted. The DLF Rookie Rankings are lower on him, going 14th overall as WR7.
Dynasty Outlook
It’s incredibly difficult to assess Travis Hunter’s value before he is drafted by his NFL team. That team will (hopefully) tell us how they plan to use him when they make the pick, and that will answer some of the questions we have about him. For now, we have to guess. It’s really unlikely he’ll be able to be a full-time player on both sides of the ball like he was in college. He’s most valuable to an NFL team giving 100% effort to one position, and mixing into specialty packages at the other. Unfortunately, the easiest way to do that is to have him play cornerback full-time, and play in specific packages on offense. This scenario would severely hamper his fantasy value in leagues where you’d have to start him at WR or flex.
Despite that being the easiest scenario, I believe he’s most valuable to an NFL team as a wide receiver. He’s arguably the best wide receiver in this lackluster draft class, and NFL teams covet that offensive weapon more than secondary players. It’s totally a toss-up, but I believe he’ll be a nearly every-down wide receiver in the pros, and play corner in dime packages, and occasional nickel packages. If this is the case, then his ranking and ADP are too low right now. If he’s going to primarily play receiver, then I’d take him number two in one-quarterback rookie drafts, after Ashton Jeanty.
There’s an argument that he was grouped with the defensive backs at the Combine, but that’s meaningless to me. All that means is he wore a different colored sweatshirt and he didn’t have to share the media spotlight with the other wide receivers and quarterbacks. He didn’t do drills or tests at the Combine, I’m not letting that impact my evaluation of the player.
One interesting aspect of Hunter’s value will be in IDP leagues. In leagues where you can start him in a CB or a DB spot in IDP, he should be in the conversation for number one pick. I haven’t seen any fantasy league hosts announce anything about how they’ll handle him in leagues like this. Every fantasy baseball league has hitters and pitchers, so websites needed to create rules for how to handle Ohtani’s scoring and eligibility. But, since IDP is such a niche section of the game, I doubt there will be any rules where he is two different players, or can only earn offensive stats if he’s started as a WR. My assumption is that Hunter will have WR and CB eligibility and will be able to earn points for both offensive and defensive plays in IDP leagues.
- 2025 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Profile: Travis Hunter, WR/CB Colorado - March 10, 2025
- 2025 NFL Scouting Combine Winners and Losers: Quarterbacks - March 4, 2025
- Past/Present/Future Rookie Pick Value: 2025 Mid 2nd - March 2, 2025
