NFL Draft analyst makes huge remark about $5.2M NIL-valued Travis Hunter while comparing him to Malik Nabers & Co

Travis Hunter enters next month's 2025 NFL Draft with tons of buzz. The now-former two-way Colorado star is regarded as one of the best prospects this cycle — and very well could have been in last year's as well.

The 2024 NFL Draft's wide receiver class included Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. (No. 4 overall, Arizona), LSU's Malik Nabers (No. 6, New York Giants), and Washington's Rome Odunze (No. 9, Chicago). ESPN's Field Yates thought highly of each of those pass-catchers. He had Harrison and Nabers respectively ranked third and fourth on his big board last year. Odunze was sixth on that list.

"Everybody feels like they liked Malik Nabers more last year than they actually liked Malik Nabers at the time because he had this unbelievable season," Yates said Monday on "Yahoo Fantasy Forecast." "Early in the draft process, myself and Mel (Kiper Jr.), on our show, started to sort of say, 'Is it that crazy to think that Malik Nabers could go ahead of Marvin Harrison Jr.?'

"We agreed at the time it wasn't. There were plenty of NFL evaluators that thought this was at least neck-and-neck. But, I would put Travis Hunter in that same category as those two players."

Earlier this month, Yates tabbed Hunter as the No. 1 player on his big board. Yates believes Hunter has a "legitimate path to a Pro Bowl career" at either wideout or cornerback. He also stated that he thinks Hunter's ceiling is highest on the offensive side of the ball.

"Just thinking about the league at-large right now, I tend to defer to athletes," Yates said. "And Travis Hunter is just such an exceptional one. Such a slippery run-after-catch player. ... He just has really rare body control that you see on both sides of the ball, so I think he would've been kind of in that same category if you only made him a wide receiver, which is also a hard thing to separate from your brain.

"Is the idea that you're only evaluating him in a spot that he might not even play full-time."

Travis Hunter has said that it's hard for him to decide on what position he'd want to play at the next level. He was talented enough at both receiver and cornerback to win last season's Heisman Trophy and a few other awards, as well.

Where will Travis Hunter be drafted?

Yates' ESPN colleague, Kiper, saw the New England Patriots drafting Hunter with the No. 4 overall pick in his latest mock draft. Hunter has been projected before to land with each team in the top five — Tennessee, Cleveland, the New York Giants, New England, and Jacksonville.

Hunter brings value on both sides of the ball and would supposedly work well wherever his professional team wants him. With New England, he would likely help Drake Maye out as a preferred target in the passing game, being that the Patriots missed out on Cincinnati receiver Tee Higgins, who the Bengals ironed out a deal with instead of letting hit the open market.

Hunter caught 96 passes for 2,258 yards and 15 touchdowns with the Buffaloes last season.