An NFL team traded up early Thursday to make sure they got the Buffs star they wanted in the NFL Draft.
One catch: That star wasn’t quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
And that team wasn’t Cleveland. Or Pittsburgh. Or the Giants.
It was Jacksonville. The Jaguars hopped from pick No. 5 to No. 2 in order to select Travis Hunter, Shedeur’s teammate, the Buffs’ historic two-way threat and the winner of the 2024 Heisman Trophy.
“It means a lot that they gave up so much,” Hunter told reporters in Green Bay after becoming the highest Buffs draft pick since 1974. “So, I know they believe in me. I’ve just got to go out there and make sure that what they put in and the time they thought about this, I’ll make sure they (were) right.”
Cleveland, which had been “mocked” to take Hunter with the No. 2 pick for weeks, if not months, got the Jaguars’ first-round pick (No. 5), as well as pick Nos. 36 and 126 and a first-round selection in 2026.
Hunter was the earliest CU Buffs player drafted since 1974, when fullback Bo Matthews was taken second overall by the San Diego Chargers.
CU hadn’t had a player taken in the first round since tackle Nate Solder went 17th overall to the Patriots in the 2011 draft. The last Buffs player taken inside the top 10 took place in 1997, when guard Chris Naeole was taken by the Saints with pick No. 10. The last CU football star selected within the top 5 was wideout Michael Westbrook (Washington, pick No. 4) in 1995.
Jacksonville coach Liam Coen told reporters that the Jags plan to introduce Hunter on offense first but that they “have to be fluid” with him going forward.
Hunter, who grew up in Florida before attending high school in Georgia, won the Heisman last fall after catching 96 passes for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns while also picking off four passes as a defensive back.
Hunter transferred into CU before the 2023 season from Jackson State, where he’d signed as the No. 1 overall prep recruiting prospect in the country in his class. As a collegian, the ex-Buff caught 171 passes for 2,167 yards and 24 receiving touchdowns while breaking up 26 passes and intercepting nine more.
Hunter has stressed for months that he intends to try to play both ways in the NFL, something that hasn’t been done regularly in the league for decades.
“There’s a lot of people telling me I can’t do it (both ways) in the NFL, but I’m gonna still do it in the NFL,” Hunter said late last fall. “A lot of people just let other people get in their ear so they don’t let them do it. And some people just don’t have the right body type to be able to go both ways full-time.”
Over the last four decades, only three NFL players have started at both cornerback and wideout in the same game: Deion Sanders, Hunter’s college coach (1996); former Broncos star Champ Bailey (2000); and Antonio Cromartie (2012).
“Travis is ‘him,’ man. Travis is that dude,” Buffs coach Deion Sanders said of Hunter last November. “He’s that guy. And his draft status is going to tell everyone who he is. Shouldn’t that tell you who he is? He’s probably going to be first or second pick out of the whole draft. That should tell you how dominant and prominent he is.”
Coach Prime was fairly close on Hunter, in hindsight. But his 2024 predictions for where his son Shedeur would be drafted, as of late Thursday evening, appeared to miss the mark. And a post on “X” in May 2024 in which the elder Sanders said his son “will be a Top 5 pick” didn’t age well.
Despite wrapping up his collegiate tenure as CU’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns and breaking more than 100 Buffs passing records, Shedeur Sanders was still on the board through the end of the first round.
The younger Sanders joined his father in Boulder after two outstanding seasons at FCS Jackson State in which the signal-caller threw for 70 scores as a freshman and sophomore with just 14 interceptions. Shedeur largely kept to a similar pace at the Power 4 level as a junior and senior, combining for 64 passing scores and 13 picks at CU. He posted a 13-11 as a starter with the Buffs.
