While speaking with reporters on Thursday, Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry compared Colorado cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter to Los Angeles Dodgers star and three-time Most Valuable Player Shohei Ohtani.
Joe Maddon previously served as Ohtani’s manager when the two were with the Los Angeles Angels. During a recent chat with Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated, Maddon explained why NFL teams should let Hunter follow in Ohtani’s footsteps as a two-way athlete.
“The player is the one who knows how to do this,” Maddon said. “The rest of us don’t. …Trust the player, talk to the player. You’re doing something that’s never been done before. I mean, it’s a lot of running, so rest him a couple series. If he’s playing defense and it’s three-and-out all runs, why would that bother you? Or, you could take him in and out of games earlier, almost like we do with pitchers now, where we pitch them less in the beginning of the year so we have them at the end of the year.”
While Hunter recently said he’d consider “never playing football again” if a club tried to stop him from playing both positions, few believe he’d actually give up millions of dollars if a club such as Cleveland kept him on one side of the ball. On Thursday, Berry revealed that the Browns “would see [Hunter’s] first home as receiver and his second home as the defensive side of the ball.”
Most expect the Browns will select Hunter with the draft’s second pick after the Tennessee Titans take Miami quarterback Cam Ward at No. 1.
Of course, a big concern for an owner who is about to hand Hunter a massive contract is that the prospect won’t be able to stay on the field while consistently playing offense and defense at the highest level.
“We all worry about people getting injured,” Maddon said about such fears. “Listen, people get injured. Sports are tough, and I don’t get the analytical concepts behind protecting a player from being injured.”
Maddon noted how Ohtani had “to be very, very honest with” him. Interestingly, Maddon also suggested a head coach such as Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski will need to be up front when it comes to the star player, such as Ohtani or Hunter, being treated differently than others.
“There’s always innate jealousies and I’m sure there will be some hazing at the NFL level,” Maddon added. “But it sounds like the kid can handle it. And when he goes out on the field and performs, he’ll shut everyone up. With Shohei, everyone shut up. And that was going to happen.”
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated and others have mentioned throughout April that the Browns need playmakers on both offense and defense. There’s no guarantee Hunter will stay healthy for more than a few games as a two-way athlete, but it seems like Cleveland will give him an opportunity to be an NFL unicorn this coming fall.
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