Dynasty Rookie Draft Advice: Travis Hunter (2025 Fantasy Football)

This is what we’ve been waiting for, fantasy football enthusiasts. The NFL Draft is underway, and we finally get to see where the rookie prospects will launch their professional careers. And NFL Draft landing spots allow us to start to zero in on fantasy football and dynasty rookie draft pick values.

Throughout the draft, we’ll take a closer look at fantasy-relevant prospects, giving you an overview of their strengths and weaknesses, and assessing their fantasy value in both redraft and dynasty formats. Here’s our dynasty rookie draft advice for Travis Hunter.

Let’s dig in.

Fantasy Football Dynasty Rookie Draft Outlook

Fantasy Football Dynasty Rookie Draft Advice

This is a shocking landing spot, as Hunter being selected by the Browns was considered a virtual lock. Unfortunately for fantasy managers, this is a much worse landing spot than Cleveland for the 2024 Heisman winner. The Browns had made it clear they viewed Hunter as primarily a receiver; the Jaguars have made no such declaration. Moreover, Jacksonville already has an elite young receiver in Brian Thomas Jr. and a need at cornerback.

With all that in mind, this outcome makes it much less likely that Hunter will primarily serve as a wide receiver, which is a huge blow to his fantasy value. If we get positive news on that front, he could still rise as high as the 1.02 in Rookie drafts – as a receiver, he is arguably the most talented player in this class. If we don’t, he may fall as far as 1.07, if not further, in risk-averse Dynasty leagues.

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DBro’s NFL Draft Scouting Report & Player Comp

Scouting report:

Hunter is an insanely talented player with a high ceiling as a wide receiver (if a team utilizes him in a full-time receiver role). He’s a fluid lateral mover with strong hands and plus body control.
During his final season in college, he was heavily utilized on screens, hitches, and go-routes. Colorado also tried to get him moving laterally when possible.
Hunter still has growth as a route runner, which will have to occur on the job in the NFL. His release package needs to continue to deepen, and his footwork has to become more efficient. Hunter’s snap at the top of his stem can be inefficient. He’ll also attempt to add jukes and extra nuance in his routes, which are simply too much and slow him down, don’t help with separation, and put him off schedule. This doesn’t surprise me with his split focus on both sides of the ball and only so many hours in a day for Hunter to hone his craft.
If an NFL team drafts Hunter to play full-time wide receiver, I hope that he will not be forced into a “true X” role immediately. While Hunter excels versus zone coverage, he had some serious issues with man/press corners, which were physical and could also run with him. Hunter gave up his chest too easily on plenty of routes and allowed corners in and to hang around in his back pocket. Last year, among 268 qualifying wide receivers, Hunter ranked 40th in yards per route against zone (2.65) but 78th in yards per route run against man coverage (2.30). Hunter has the play strength and fluidity to improve in this area, but it’s a developmental step that has to occur.
Hunter can be a liability in the blocking department. That won’t be how he’s cashing his checks weekly but there were plenty of screen plays that were blown apart with Hunter at the forefront of the blocking design.
Hunter flashes plenty of strength at the catch point with a 63.3% contested catch rate in college. He can offer some YAC with his combination of upper body strength and speed, but his missed tackles forced numbers last year are somewhat flimsy. Last year, he had 24 missed tackles (eighth-best), but seven of those occurred (Texas Tech) against a defense that ranked 131st out of 134 qualifying FBS programs in tackling grade.

Player Comp: Unicorn (Hunter’s ranking is related to his status as a possible part-time wide receiver. If he is a full-time wide receiver in the NFL, he’s a Tier 1 level prospect in the draft class.)