One of the biggest stories as the 2025 draft approaches relates to the plans for Travis Hunter after he’s drafted. He clearly wants to try to play both ways on a full-time basis.
Will the team that picks him let him do it?
Hopefully, they’ll let him try. It’s far better for him to figure it out on his own that it’s too much to handle than for someone else to tell him he can’t do it.
On Tuesday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh suggested it will be hard for anyone to do it.
“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 think 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.”
That team is likely the Browns. A division rival of the Ravens. So, yes, Harbaugh will find out — twice this year and every year Hunter is in Cleveland — how the Browns use him.
Harbaugh has a point. Think of the time a player spends (if he’s truly committed to his craft) preparing for a game. Beyond the reps on the practice field, he has to know the playbook. He has to know the audibles. He has to know the game plan. He has to know the various adjustments and checks at the line of scrimmage. He has to study film of the upcoming opponent. It’s a full load on one side of the ball. Double it, and it could be overwhelming.
Still, Hunter did it in college. And he did it well enough to be regarded as a top receiver prospect AND a top cornerback prospect.
He has earned the opportunity to attempt to do it at the next level. For now, the question is whether the team that drafts him is willing to let him try. If that team isn’t willing to let him try, it just shouldn’t draft him.
That said, Harbaugh has had a player play extensively on both sides of the ball. In 2019, Patrick Ricard became the first player since Browns receiver/safety Mike Furrey to play 100 or more snaps on offense and 100 or more snaps on defense. Furrey did it by shifting from receiver to safety due to injuries in the secondary. Richard played both defensive tackle and fullback by design.
Still, Hunter is looking at far more than 100 snaps on offense and defense in a season. If he gets his wish, he’ll be reaching that level every two games.
It would be great for the Browns if he can pull it off. It would be like having an extra player on the roster. It would give the Browns flexibility on game days, when it’s time to decide who should and shouldn’t be in uniform. They can dress one fewer receiver or one fewer defensive back, allowing them to use another player at another position.
Here’s hoping the Browns, if they take him, are willing to let him give it a shot. Then, if he concludes on his own that it’s too much to handle, he can settle into one position or the other.
Since entering the league in 1996, the Ravens have not drafted a kicker.
Given the uncertainty surrounding Justin Tucker stemming from the investigation of accusations of inappropriate conduct during massage therapy sessions, Baltimore could change that next week.
During the team’s pre-draft press conference on Tuesday, General Manager Eric DeCosta said it could be worth it to turn in a draft card on a kicker.
“Sure, there have been some great kickers drafted,” DeCosta said. “We’ve drafted a couple punters, but it’s worth it if you have the right kicker. It just depends on the [draft] board. It depends on the player. It depends who’s there. It depends on how your coaches see him. And also, it should be said that some of the greatest kickers of all time weren’t drafted, right? So, there’s no blueprint for finding a kicker, except you have to be able to evaluate the kicker. I think [senior special teams coach] Randy Brown does a phenomenal job of evaluating kickers, and we have a lot of other really good coaches who do a great job of evaluating talent along with our scouts.
“So, is it worth it? I think it probably is if the right guy is there. However, you don’t have to draft a kicker. You don’t have to draft a punter. You don’t have to draft a running back or a linebacker for those guys to be great players. We’ve seen that over and over again.”
Is DeCosta expecting to draft a kicker this year?
“I never have any expectations, because you don’t know how the thing is going to unfold,” DeCosta said. “Again, we’re going to be on the clock, and we’re going to draft the best available player every spot for us as a club. I never want to pigeonhole myself into doing this or that because when I do that, I usually end up being disappointed. You create a false expectation in your mind, and you start to think about needs and other things.
”I like to go into that draft like a wide-open highway with no cars on the road, and I could drive as fast as I want straight down the road unencumbered and not worry about [anything] but just driving, turn music up and just drafting and picking the best players.”
Even if Tucker weren’t under investigation, his performance in 2024 is reason enough for Baltimore to look for his replacement. He connected on a career-low 73.3 percent of his field goals and missed two extra points last season. He was just 5-of-8 from field goals of 40-49 yards and 6-of-11 on attempts from at least 50 yards.
When Ravens head coach John Harbaugh spoke to reporters at the league meetings, he said a contract extension for running back Derrick Henry was definitely in the offseason conversation and the topic came up again in Baltimore on Tuesday.
Henry signed a two-year deal in 2024 that is set to pay him a salary of $6 million in 2025. Henry would be a major bargain at that price after running for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns during his first season in Baltimore, but General Manager Eric DeCosta did not provide any sense of a timeline for getting a new deal worked out during the pre-draft press conference.
“We have a lot of different balls in the air right now,” DeCosta said, via Jeff Zrebiec of TheAthletic.com. “That’s probably what I would say on that. I’m not going to talk about what we’re doing, or what we’re not doing behind the scenes business-wise with these guys.”
Harbaugh also noted the need to get a new deal done with quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Ravens have fifth-year option calls to make on safety Kyle Hamilton and center Tyler Linderbaum, so there’s no arguing with DeCosta’s assertion about how much is on the team’s plate.
The Ravens have 11 picks in the 2025 draft, which is tied for the most in the league.
General Manager Eric DeCosta will continue the team’s best-player-available approach, which has served the Ravens well, but he does expect to draft “at least” one cornerback and one safety.
The Ravens have their starting corners in Nate Wiggins and Marlon Humphrey, but they lost depth this offseason with Brandon Stephens leaving in free agency for the Jets. The Ravens moved on from nickel corner Arthur Maulet, looking to upgrade at the position.
“It’s always a big need. Every single year,” DeCosta said of the cornerback position, via Matt Ryan of the team website. “You could ask 31 other teams, [and] they would all say the same thing. Corner is a critical, important position. They break down. They’re like Bugattis, and they just break down and you’ve got to have them in reserve.”
Kyle Hamilton is one of the top safeties in the league, but the Ravens want to get him some help so they can allow their two-time Pro Bowler to play closer to the box as he did in 2023.
“I think it’s a pretty deep safety crew,” DeCosta said. “Obviously the top guys, but then there’s maybe four or five or six guys that will probably be third, fourth, fifth-round guys that are good players. This is a really nice pool of players to pick from I think we definitely will look at that.”
The Ravens also could use an edge rusher, an offensive guard, a wide receiver and a defensive tackle. They have plenty of picks to get done what they need to get done on draft weekend.
Late last month at the annual league meeting, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh told reporters that he fully expects tight end Mark Andrews to be a part of the team in 2025.
Andrews, 29, is entering the last year of his contract. He’s set to be paid $7 million in base salary with a $16.9 million cap number. The Ravens could save $11 million against the cap by trading or releasing him.
Given all that, General Manager Eric DeCosta was asked in Baltimore’s pre-draft press conference if he is also expecting Andrews to be around in 2025.
“I never know what’s going to happen, and I would never want to say this or that, but I can tell you this: Mark Andrews is a warrior, and he’s played his butt off for us, and his competitiveness, his talent, his attitude, his leadership is so valued here,” DeCosta said, via transcript from the team. “He’s a great player, and we’re in the business of keeping as many great players as we can, so there’s always a lot of unpredictability with the draft. You just never know.”
A third-round pick in the 2018 draft, Andrews has spent his entire career with the Ravens. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2021 when he caught 107 passes for 1,361 yards with nine touchdowns.
In 2024, he finished with 55 receptions for 673 yards with a career-high 11 touchdowns. However, he also had a crushing drop at the end of the divisional-round matchup with the Bills that helped Buffalo secure a 27-25 victory.
