Ryan Clark warns Jaguars, Travis Hunter against overuse as two-way player, reveals optimal role

Playing both ways continues to be the plan for WR/CB Travis Hunter coming into this season as a rookie in the NFL. Determining what the looks like for him, though, will be important for the Jaguars to do, says Ryan Clark at ESPN.

‘Get Up’ discussed the two-way plans for Hunter with Jacksonville on Tuesday morning. ESPN’s Jeff Darlington confirmed to Mike Greenberg to start that conversation that playing the No. 2 overall pick at wide receiver on offense and cornerback on defense is still the plan for the team this year.

“James (Gladstone), the GM, said, when they drafted him, the reason we’re doing that is because it fixes the math. It gives you an extra player,” Darlington said. “They drafted him with the intention. They went up to get him with the intention of doing that. That is absolutely the plan.”

With that, Clark did go on to question “the math” a bit. That’s because he doesn’t think Hunter playing every single snap on both sides of the ball would add up to him being worth a whole two players.

“It’s possible for one player to be one and a half players. I don’t necessarily know if it’s possible for him to be two players,” Clark said.

The point for Clark was still that it may be just too much for Hunter to try and be impactful at two positions full-time in the NFL. Because of that, he thinks Jacksonville needs to determine where he can be most effective for them and, once they do, then find how they can utilize him in special situations on the other side of the football than that primary one.

“We’ve got to figure out where he can go be the best every single snap and then filter him in at the other position in important moments where he can make a difference,” said Clark.

“Whatever they decide is the best position to be his primary one, then that’s on them, even if you want to move him around based on game plan where he plays most. But asking Travis Hunter to, let’s say, go out and, you know – ‘Hey, Travis Hunter. We want you to go out and guard Terry McLaurin‘ and then telling him ‘Now, we want you to go out and beat Marshon Lattimore‘ every snap. That’s a very difficult thing to do. Go guard AJ Brown, now go beat Quinyon Mitchell. That’s tough. But, if you tell him, hey, we want you to go guard DeVonta Smith or go guard AJ Brown, and then on third down or eleven personnel or in two-minute or in red zone, you’re going to play wide receiver? I believe that’s something Travis Hunter can accomplish and do it at a high level.”

To that point, Clark compared it to the play of one of the greatest two-way athletes ever in Shohei Ohtani in the MLB. Ohtani, albeit in a different sport, isn’t asked to bat and pitch at his elite level in every single game as he swings in each outing but only pitches every few matchups. That’s the kind of balance that Clark is looking for with Hunter.

“I mean, think about Shohei Ohtani, right, who, right now to me, is the greatest athlete on Earth. We don’t ask him to pitch every single game. They don’t ask him to play a field position every single game. What they tell him is go be one of the best hitters in all of the world every time we take the diamond and then, every four to five outings, I want you to go be one the best pitchers,” explained Clark. “That’s the same thing we’ve got to do with Travis Hunter.”

This debate will continue on and on, especially once we see Hunter actually try to do this over his debut in the National Football League. Still, if anyone will want to prove that he can actually do this game in and game out as a pro, it’s Hunter.