Johnny Manziel: Travis Hunter can be 'top notch cornerback' in NFL rather than play two ways

Johnny Manziel loves what Travis Hunter brings to the table but ultimately, the Colorado two-way star will play one position in the NFL.

What position is that? Cornerback, just like his coach Deion Sanders. That’s not to say Hunter can’t play both sides of the ball or just play wide receiver.

But Manziel thinks Hunter is better off on defense once he gets to the pros.

“I would think he would be on the defensive side of the ball,” Manziel said, via Action Network. “That’s the best attribute that he has. I think he’s an absolutely, top notch cornerback, a guy who’s gonna continue to grow into that position as well. 

“I wouldn’t think we would see that in the NFL. We wouldn’t see a GM do that.  It’s very different  when you get to that league and to that level. But I think he’ll play corner, and I think he’ll be really, really good at it.”

Hunter’s talents were on full display in the win over Utah last weekend, scoring on offense and grabbing an interception on defense.

“He let us down a little bit today,” Sanders jokingly said of Hunter to FOX’s Jenny Taft. “They took a shot at him … but he kept his composure and made a big play. Travis is the epitome of a football player. He loves the game, he practices hard, he’s a straight-A student, goes right home after. He ain’t smoking, he ain’t getting high, he doing nothing stupid like that or getting drunk.

“(Travis is) a great human being, and I love him. He he’s the epitome of what this organization is.”

QB Shedeur Sanders also stated his case for Hunter to win the Heisman, which seems like the logical pick at this point. And that’s for being a two-way player.

“He’s the best player in the country hands down. No doubt,” Sanders said. “There’s not a lot of guys that could do what he do on offense and defense. So it’s really tough to compare him to anybody else, because I feel like if he was at a different program, they don’t like us so much. They hate on us too. So it’s real hard, and it made me sad that they don’t give a guy like him his credit, because that’s generational. It ain’t gonna happen again for a long time.”

Whether or not Hunter plays both sides of the ball in the NFL remains to be seen. But it seems clear that whoever selects him early will certainly want to try.