Can he or can't he? Will he or won't he?
Of course, we are talking about whether a two-way college football star can translate his ironman game to the National Football League. If Travis Hunter is selected No. 2 by Cleveland in this week's NFL Draft, would Browns coach Kevin Stefanski allow him to play over 100 snaps a game?
Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, whose team could face Hunter twice a season if he is drafted by Cleveland, seems to think it is almost impossible for Hunter to fully prepare to play both ways.
“It’s gonna be interesting to see how they do it, wherever he goes,” Harbaugh said during a pre-draft press conference. “But to say that you’re gonna be completely immersed in everything that there is to know on offense and everything there is to know on defense. I don’t know if there’s enough hours in the day for a player to be able to do that, and to have every detail locked down.
“But you certainly could do it, I would thinkm on one side of the ball ... and then have some sort of a package on the other side of the ball, which is my guess is how the team will do it, wherever he goes. But I assume we’ll be playing against him, so we’re about to find out how that team does it.”
Harbaugh would know about this dilemma first-hand. He has direct knowledge of coaching the last player to attempt this feat. In 2019, Patrick Ricard became the first two-way player since Browns receiver/safety Mike Furrey to play 100 or more snaps on offense and 100 or more snaps on defense.
Richard played both defensive tackle and fullback for Harbaugh. So it can be done. ... with the challenge being about the preparation.
