The Patriots seem to be pretty big fans of Travis Hunter.

New England has the reigning Heisman winner and two-way Colorado star rated as the No. 1 wide receiver and No. 1 cornerback prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft, MassLive reported. 

It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that the Patriots have Hunter highly-rated on their big board as the NFL Scouting Combine takes place. The vast majority of mock drafts have Hunter as a top-five pick in the upcoming draft, citing his prowess on both sides of the ball as a reason why he’s expected to be a top pick.

However, there have been other prospects who have been debated as possible superior players than Hunter at receiver or corner. Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan has been commonly featured as a top-10 pick in mock drafts, with some evaluators ranking him as the top receiver in the 2025 draft. Michigan’s Will Johnson and Texas’ Jahdae Barron have also had high placements in mock drafts as they’ve been argued as one of the top corner prospects in the 2025 draft as well.

Of course, one of the big questions surrounding Hunter is where he’ll play once he enters the league. He stated again this week that he hopes to be a two-way player in the NFL.

“I’m going to play both,” Hunter told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine on Thursday, of playing both offense and defense. “That’s not my job to figure it out. I like to play both sides of the ball. If [teams] give me the opportunity to play both sides of the ball, I’m going to play both sides of the ball.

“Nobody has done it, but I feel like I’ve put my body through a lot. I do a lot of treatment; people don’t get to see that part, what I do for my body to make sure I’m 100 percent each game. But I feel I can do it because nobody has done it. And I know I can do it.”

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had some fun with Hunter about his desire to play both sides of the ball, joking about his playing career when the team met with the top prospect in Indianapolis.

“We were kind of jawing back and forth as he left last night,” Vrabel said on NFL Network Thursday of his conversations with Hunter. “And I said, ‘You’re not the only one that played two-way. There were some other guys that did this, too.’ And he kind of looked at me — and he laughed.”

The other big question surrounding Hunter is if he’ll be available when the Patriots are on the clock with the fourth overall pick. New England’s hopes of possibly nabbing Hunter might have increased Friday, with Matthew Stafford opting to re-sign with the Rams instead of pursuing a trade to the Giants, who hold the No. 3 overall pick, or Raiders, who hold the No. 6 overall pick. Following Stafford’s decision, ESPN reporter Field Yates noted that it feels “more and more like we are headed towards 2 QBs in the first 2-3 picks of the draft.” That scenario would likely include the Browns (No. 2) and Giants each picking one of Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders.

If the Patriots end up with Hunter, they’d get a player who was undeniably elite on both sides of the ball in college. Offensively, he had 96 receptions for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns, adding a score on the ground in 2024. Defensively, Hunter recorded 35 total tackles, four interceptions, 11 passes defended, and a forced fumble. He also gave up 23 receptions on 41 targets for just 222 yards and a touchdown, per Pro Football Focus.