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Travis Hunter Makes Promise To New England Patriots

Bonisiwe Shabane
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travis hunter makes promise to new england patriots

After landing second-year QB Drake Maye last offseason, the Patriots want to surround Maye with the best possible supporting cast. To that end, we could debate whether that means building through the trenches or pairing the second-year quarterback with an elite talent at wide receiver. Although the offensive line and pass-catchers are both critical to building a good offense, high-end wide receivers are one of the most sought-after commodities in the NFL behind only quarterbacks. Based on Pro Football Focus's wins above replacement metric, skill positions such as wide receiver and cornerback are considered the most impactful positions in pro football besides quarterback, speaking to the value of impacting... Remarkably, a player in this year's draft can play both receiver and corner at a high level. From this perspective, the dream draft scenario for the Patriots is that reigning Heisman winner Travis Hunter falls in New England's laps at the fourth-overall pick.

Hunter teaming up with Maye to form a formidable QB-WR duo would be ideal. However, as the draft inches closer, it's getting difficult to envision that scenario happening for the Patriots. At the top of the draft, the Titans seem locked into Miami QB Cam Ward with the number one overall pick. But the Patriots would need the next two picks to be Hunter's college quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, and pass-rusher Abdul Carter to land Hunter. Currently, Hunter makes sense for both the Browns and Giants, who have premier pass-rushers under lucrative multi-year contracts. New York, who controls the Patriots fate with the third-overall pick, already paid edge rusher Brian Burns and drafted Kayvon Thibodeaux fifth-overall in 2022.

If he doesn't go in the first two picks, the Giants feel like a Hunter team. The New England Patriots are sitting in an enviable spot heading into the 2025 NFL Draft. They hold the fourth overall pick, and—unlike the three teams in front of them—aren’t desperate for a quarterback. That alone makes Colorado’s Travis Hunter very much in play. He’s been a dream target for New England all offseason. Hunter is the kind of generational prospect who rarely comes around.

He’s not just elite at one position—he’s elite at two. In 2024 alone, he logged 1,258 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns while also locking down receivers as a top-tier cornerback. His 1,552 total snaps were the most by any player in college football. And somehow, there was no drop-off in performance on either side of the ball. He's a hardware collector: Hunter is a two-time All-American, Heisman Trophy winner, and Biletnikoff Award winner (nation's top wide receiver). For good measure, he also won Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year...

so yeah, he can more than hold his own on both ends. Still, there are skeptics. Traditional evaluators question whether any player can truly succeed both ways at the NFL level. Hunter has now answered that doubt with a not-so-subtle ultimatum. Travis Hunter insists he would pay respect to a Patriots legend if drafted by New England next year. Hunter is expected to be one of the first players off the board in the 2025 NFL Draft, and given the way the Patriots’ season is unfolding, Jerod Mayo and company are in line...

The Colorado star spoke about his NFL future on the latest episode of “The Travis Hunter Show,” and he addressed a specific potential scenario in Foxboro, Mass. “If I don’t get No. 12, bro, I’m going No. 48,” Hunter said. “Bro, what if I go to the Patriots? I’m not gonna wear Tom Brady’s number, bro.

That’s too much legacy in that jersey. I respect Tom Brady too much. I respect Tom Brady too much to try to get No. 12.” It’s unclear how Hunter feels about potentially playing for the Patriots, but ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. believes the multi-position phenom would be a great fit in New England.

The lowly Patriots need an infusion of high-end talent, in general, and Hunter could check that box in spades. Sunday’s game at Nissan Stadium potentially could impact New England’s chances of selecting Hunter. The 2-6 Patriots will visit the 1-6 Tennessee Titans for a Week 9 clash. New England Sports Network host Travis Thomas has explained his belief that the New England Patriots must draft Colorado Buffaloes star dual-threat player Travis Hunter if he falls to them in next year’s draft. While discussing the 2025 NFL Draft on the Foxboro Rush show, the possibility of trading down or drafting an offensive lineman was floated around by the other co-hosts. In response, Thomas gave a bold statement on the matter.

The Patriots have shown improvement since rookie quarterback Drake Maye took over the offense. However, the once-dominant franchise still needs drastic development on both sides of the ball. In the previously mentioned video released to X (formerly known as Twitter), Thomas explained how there was no way the Patriots should overlook Hunter should he fall to them in the draft. “If they pick 3rd and Travis Hunter is on the board and they don’t take him, I’m blaming you,” he stated. He also referenced how no other situation, whether that be trading down the order or drafting some other position, would be sufficient if Hunter is on the board and available. The New England Patriots may have a very difficult draft decision on their hands this spring.

Every Patriots fan is painfully aware that their team could have had the number-one pick in this draft had they simply lost their final regular-season game against the Buffalo Bills. Instead, rookie quarterback Joe Milton balled out, and New England dropped to number four. Because the Patriots don't need a quarterback, there are probably three prospects they'll be considering if they stay at the fourth pick: Penn State edge-rusher Abdul Carter, Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter, and LSU... Assuming Carter, the consensus number-one prospect in the draft, doesn't fall to the Patriots, they'll be forced to either take a gamble on Hunter's two-way experiment at the NFL level or go the "safe"... On Monday, Kyle Crabbs of The 33rd Team predicted that New England would gamble on upside. In his 2025 mock draft, Crabbs paired Hunter with the Patriots at the number-four selection.

The New England Patriots sit at a very pivotal point of the the 2025 NFL Draft. With the 4th overall pick at their disposal, the Patriots could find themselves in a position where they're the recipient of quarterback hungry teams desperate to move up in the draft order to get... That ‘generational' player may be Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter, who is suddenly something of a polarizing prospect due to an injury that may or may not require surgery. It may also be Colorado's Travis Hunter, who teams are still trying to pigeonhole as either a wide receiver or a cornerback, while any smart franchise would know that Hunter's value lies in his... What makes Travis Hunter such a unique, can't miss prospect is not that he's generationally talented as either a wide receiver or a cornerback alone. It's that he could, in theory, be a B+ player at both positions throughout the entirety of his NFL career.

But what's interesting is that new head coach Mike Vrabel and the Patriots are not only intrigued by the total package that Hunter brings to the table. They reportedly view him as the best player at both of those two very important positions. “[The Patriots] consider Travis Hunter the No. 1 corner and the No. 1 wide receiver in this draft.” —@BostonConnr on New England's potential interest in Travis Hunter 👀 (via The @PatMcAfeeShow) pic.twitter.com/a1rANaly9u

The New England Patriots have been endlessly linked to Colorado Buffaloes superstar Travis Hunter, as they own the fourth pick in the NFL Draft and Hunter may be available for them. Hunter worked out at Colorado's Pro Day on Friday, so you would expect a large contingency of Patriots executives to be in attendance, right? Well, apparently, New England only sent one representative to watch Hunter, with Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reporting that vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden was on site. Considering that the Pats are rumored to be highly enamored with Hunter, this is pretty odd, especially when you take into account that they sent nine execs to watch Drake Maye at North Carolina's... Of course, that was somewhat of a different regime, as Jerod Mayo was head coach rather than Mike Vrabel, but this still seems like a rather odd development regardless.

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