Colorado Buffaloes two-way star Travis Hunter is one of the best wide receivers and defensive backs in the country at the college level. He’s a legitimate NFL prospect on both sides of the ball, which could create quite a problem for the NFL if he does indeed decide to play both ways at the professional level, too.
As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out, Travis Hunter would cause a “contract conundrum” for the NFL if he decided to play both offense and defense in the league because veteran contracts aren’t typically designed to account for a player like him.
“It also would present an interesting contractual conundrum. Not for his rookie deal, which would be tied to draft slot. For the second contract, a player who plays extensive reps on both sides of the ball should get more money than a player who plays on one side of the ball,” Florio wrote for Pro Football Talk this week. “It’s appropriate, and it’s fair. One person would be doing two jobs. He should be getting paid to do both jobs.
“The injury risk would be more pronounced, since it would remove a key player from offense and defense. Still, a full-time, two-way, receiver-cornerback would — after three NFL seasons — create a contract question unprecedented in the salary-cap era.”
Obviously, we’re still a few years away from this becoming a concern, but it would certainly be an interesting problem for the league to have to solve.
[Pro Football Talk]
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