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Would The Patriots Be Forced To Draft Travis Hunter With The 4th

Bonisiwe Shabane
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would the patriots be forced to draft travis hunter with the 4th

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. As the New England Patriots mull over their options at pick No. 4, head coach Mike Vrabel understands they won't know exactly who is available until they're officially on the clock. "Nope. Do you have any idea?" he jokingly responded at the AFC coaches breakfast on Monday when asked if the team has clarity on how things may go at the top of the draft. "You tell me who goes 1, 2, and 3 and I'll tell you who goes 4."

If the board does fall the right way, New England—picking within the top five of the NFL draft for a second consecutive season—could have a chance at drafting a generational talent in hybrid player... The 2024 Heisman Trophy winner played wide receiver and cornerback during his time at the University of Colorado, and shined on both sides of the ball. Vrabel was asked about Hunter on Monday and refused to put him in a box, insinuating that the Patriots would be open to playing him on both offense and defense. "I think there are some things he can improve on by probably concentrating on just one position," he explained. "But never going to put any restrictions on Travis, or any player. We try to—as much as they can handle—we’re going to continue to put more on their plate."

As the draft quickly approaches, guesswork about who will go where and when in the 2025 NFL draft abounds. With pick No. 4, the Patriots are in the thick of the mix and the speculation. While how they got that fourth pick is not optimal, having it is still a positive. At No. 4, the good news is you can get the best player at his position in the draft.

In the case of the Patriots, who have multiple positions that need to be filled, it must be that level of player. Fortunately, the situation will afford the opportunity to do just that. In this scenario, we'll assume some prognostications are correct, and absent a trade up, the best player in the draft, multi-positional Travis Hunter, will be taken by pick No. 4. That's what winning a meaningless game will do for you. Regardless, the Patriots will have several solid options.

We'll explore four here. Penn State's edge, Abdul Carter, is a transcendent non-quarterback in the draft. He's been compared to Micah Parsons of Dallas—high praise indeed. The Nittany Lion posted awesome 2024 numbers, racking up 64 stops, 24 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, four passes defended, and two forced fumbles in 16 games. If Carter is available at pick No. 4, he's the pick, assuming he's checked out medically.

Even though the Patriots added two solid edge players in free agency, Carter is too good to pass up at a position of need. It's a no-brainer pick for Mike Vrabel's defense. March 24, 2025 / 1:31 PM EDT / CBS Boston The NFL Draft is one month away, and ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss has one target in mind for the New England Patriots with the fourth overall pick: Travis Hunter. Hunter was a dynamic two-way star for the Colorado Buffaloes in 2024, making plays as both a wide receiver and a cornerback. In addition to taking home last year's Heisman Trophy, Hunter also earned both the Chuck Bednarik Award (given to the top defensive player in college football) and the Walter Camp Player of the Year...

Last year for the Buffaloes, Hunter caught 96 passes for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns on offense. He also notched 36 tackles, four interceptions, and 11 passes defended on the defensive side. It's unclear if he'll play both sides of the ball in the NFL, which will likely depend on which team drafts him. The Patriots are also in need of a left tackle, so LSU's Will Campbell Missouri's Armond Membou have been linked to New England in the pre-draft hoopla. But if Hunter is available when the Patriots are scheduled to make the fourth overall selection, Reiss doesn't want to see any hesitation from the organization. Phil Perry says Travis Hunter is one of just two blue chip players in this year’s draft.

Experts expect Hunter to mainly play on the defensive side of the ball, but Perry argues that he could play wide receiver for the Patriots full time while moonlighting at cornerback. Editor's Note: The New England Patriots have a host of roster needs at critical positions, but which one should they address with the No. 4 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft? As part of his "The Case For" series, Phil Perry will highlight five different draft-day options for the Patriots and explain why each may (or may not) be the best course of action. Today's scenario involves New England selecting Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter. Subscribe to NBC Sports Boston's podcast network to hear our Insiders bring you the latest insights on your favorite teams!

Hunter will be one of the top picks in this year’s draft. Travis Hunter the cornerback and Travis Hunter the wide receiver are the same person. For the New England Patriots’ scouting department, however, they very well might not be. The reigning Heisman Trophy Winner, who is expected to be in play for the Patriots with the fourth overall selection in the draft, has forced the team to adapt its scouting methods. As executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf explained this year, the team is working off of two separate reports on him. “Not to give anything away, but Matt Groh actually wrote two separate scouting reports on him when he went to Colorado this year.

He has one wide receiver report and one corner report,” Wolf explained during a recent interview with Mike Dussault and Evan Lazar of patriots.com. “Now, he’s the only one who did that; everyone else kind of tried to jam everything into the space that we have. But it’s tough when you’re talking about a player who does so many different things to fit it all in there.” The 2025 NFL Draft is approaching, and teams are starting to decide which positions to target and which players to select. Front offices need to hit on their picks, especially if they have a high draft selection. The quarterback position is the most crucial in the NFL, but this isn’t the best year to choose one.

Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders are the top two quarterbacks in the draft. The four players expected to go in the top four are QB Cam Ward, DL Abdul Carter, QB Shedeur Sanders, and WR/CB Travis Hunter. Tennessee holds the number one overall pick and desperately needs a quarterback. The Titans are expected to select Cam Ward, who is widely regarded as the best QB in the draft and the number one overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. However, once Ward is picked first, it’s uncertain who might go next among Carter, Sanders, and Hunter.

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