There are prospects. There are stars. After which there’s Travis Hunter.
The Jaguars shocked the soccer world after they traded up to the No. 2 total decide—forking over their No. 5 choice, two extra picks this yr, and subsequent yr’s first—to safe a participant in contrast to any within the trendy NFL. And that features the person he’s most frequently in comparison with—his school coach Deion Sanders.
Hunter, the reigning Heisman winner, shouldn’t be simply a two-way participant—he’s a two-way phenomenon. A shutdown nook with broad receiver instincts, or a No. 1 wideout with lockdown nook expertise, relying in your perspective. He is as fluid in protection as he’s explosive off the road. And now, he’s a Jacksonville Jaguar.
However with greatness comes complication. Particularly, on this case: how do you pay a participant who, fairly actually, does all of it?
“It is a bit bit like [Shohei] Ohtani,” Browns GM Andrew Berry advised reporters throughout his pre-draft information convention. “You understand he is taking part in one aspect, and he is an excellent participant. If he is a pitcher or hitter, he is an excellent participant. You, clearly, get a unicorn if you happen to use him each methods.”
In Ohtani’s case, his dynamism earned him a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, marking the most important contract in skilled sports activities historical past.
And therein lies the rub. Hunter could have a fair better influence than Ohtani pitching each fifth day. He’s placing in twice the snaps, twice the movie examine, and probably incomes twice the Professional Bowl nods. In a league constructed on specialization, he’s shattering the mildew. And he desires to maintain doing it.
“I like being on the soccer discipline,” Hunter advised CBS Sports activities. “I really feel like I may dominate on both sides of the ball.”
Which is nice—for the Jaguars. However for his or her accountants? Barely terrifying.
Contemplate the mathematics: the highest 5 broad receivers are slated to common $34.85 million in wage for 2025. Defensive backs? A modest $24.82 million. That’s a $10 million discrepancy, per Spotrac, and Hunter may feasibly command top-tier cash at each positions.
Even his rookie deal, projected north of $46 million over 4 years, looks like a cut price for what Jacksonville hopes is a franchise-altering expertise. Particularly when he’s represented by Younger Cash APAA Sports activities and SMAC Leisure, an off-field pairing able to wringing each drop of worth out of his model. He’s already acquired Lil Wayne in his nook.
Finally, the Jaguars didn’t simply draft a nook or a receiver. They drafted a chess piece, a headline, a future face of the league. And perhaps, simply perhaps, they drafted the query that might rewrite the fashionable NFL contract: what’s a two-way celebrity actually price?