Eric Mangini explains why Travis Kelce is wrong about Travis Hunter, ‘that’d be a tough sell…’

He said that teams would run go routes on offense in an attempt to tire Hunter out throughout the game, making him run up and down the field on every snap. 

But Mangini, who coached the New York Jets among others during his 20-year NFL career, revealed why he doesn’t think that would work.

Eric Mangini says Travis Kelce is wrong about Travis Hunter, ‘that’ll go down great’

Mangini is a defensive mastermind from his time as the defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick. Leaning on his experience, he thinks there are major flaws in Kelce’s take on Hunter.

Speaking on First Things First, he said, “It’s an interesting idea, if you can guarantee they’re going to play man-to-man coverage every down, they’re not going to mix in some cover two, you know exactly where he’s going to be – on the right side, the left side, is he going to be in the slot?”

Mangini, who is well used to managing locker rooms with big personalities having dealt with the Brett Favre-led Jets, also said that Kelce has not considered the real-life element to his strategy.

Mangini continued, “He’ll probably be on the best wide receiver, so you’ve got to convince him, ‘hey, we’re not going to throw you the ball here, but you go run a nine route against this rookie because we want you to tire him out. That’ll go down great in the meeting rooms.”

In his typical sarcastic tones, Mangini brilliantly broke down the difference between theory and application through his real-life NFL experience.

There are challenges involved for Hunter playing both ways too, and Mangini had his own thoughts on how to punish Hunter for playing both ways.

Eric Mangini said teams should ‘see what kind of stomach’ Travis Hunter has

Mangini went on to explain that Hunter’s frame, not his stamina, could be the real bottleneck in his NFL potential.

At 6’1”, he has a smaller size for a defensive back, which is something Mangini thinks NFL teams can punish during Hunter’s rookie season.

He explained, “The way I think you can attack him is, he’s not a big guy at about 175 lbs. One of the things we would do consistently is if you have a finesse defensive back, you try to make him tackle.

“‘Ok, you wanna cover, we get that. Congratulations. But we’re going to make you tackle and see what kind of stomach you have for that at 175 lbs.’”

The NFL saw a physical style re-introduced last season, with the likes of Saquon Barkley and the bruising Philadelphia Eagles offensive line having massive success against speed-based defenses.

Jaguars’ co-owner Tony Kahn compared Hunter to Charles Woodson, a Hall of Fame cornerback. We’ll see how that comparison holds up with the likes of Barkley coming out of the backfield.