2025 NFL Draft: Giants GM Joe Schoen reveals if he'd let Travis Hunter play both ways

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen isn’t afraid to let Travis Hunter play both ways in the NFL, should the team draft him. He said “it’d be hard to keep him off the field.”

Hunter wants to play both ways in the pros, just the way he’s been doing it all the way through college football. Heck, it won him a Heisman Trophy last season, his final year at Colorado.

Hunter is widely expected to be a top five pick in next week’s draft. It might be a matter if the Browns or Giants take him at No. 2 or 3 at this point too. So if the Giants have any say, Hunter will play wide receiver and defensive back.

“He’s fun to watch,” Schoen said. “It’s unique that [he has] the ball skills, the route ability, and then also the ability to go to the other side and play corner. You just don’t see that very often. A lot of times, if these guys can’t catch or they can’t play receiver, then they get moved to DB. But this guy can do it all. So, he’s also a great kid. So, it’d be hard to keep him off the field, and he’s motivated to play both ways.

“So, again, you’re always worried about the length of the season at the NFL — 17 games — and training camp. If he gets hurt doing something that he’s not doing full-time, you’re going to kick yourself. But, he’s a unique athlete that I think will be able to do both.”

Hunter even said he’d rather stop playing football than have to pick between playing offense or defense. If that’s the type of mentality he has going into the NFL, perhaps he will excel at both with the Giants or elsewhere.

“To me, what will have to be settled is, the mental part of it — because offense is very hard to learn,” Schoen said of Hunter playing both ways. “And then the defense on a weekly basis — it’s not like college anymore where, hey, these are our basic plays, this is our basic defense and we’re going to go play Cover 3 against Kansas, we’re going to play Cover 3 against Nebraska. There’s a lot more week-to-week matchup-type stuff that our coaches are doing.

“So, how much can you handle mentally where you can go out there and execute and they can trust you to do your job? So, physically, I wouldn’t doubt the kid.”