Cornerback and wide receiver have been two of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ biggest needs this offseason, and while the team has done a good job to address the cornerback position, the 33rd Team’s latest 2025 Mock Draft has the team adding a player who could potentially work in both spots. Ian Valentino has the Steelers taking Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter with the 14th pick in his mock draft.
Valentino believes Hunter is best suited to play defense at the next level and has him listed as a cornerback.
“While Travis Hunter can play corner and wide receiver at Colorado, his best fit at the next level is probably on the defensive side. His instincts and ball skills are much rarer on that side of the ball. The Pittsburgh Steelers will be smitten with Hunter’s tough-nosed mindset, and he’ll fill a huge need across from Joey Porter Jr.”
It’ll be interesting to see if NFL teams believe that Hunter can play both ways in the NFL, but at a minimum, he’s still a first-round talent at cornerback. At Colorado last season, Hunter had 30 total tackles, three interceptions and five passes defensed as a cornerback while adding 57 receptions for 721 yards and five touchdowns as a receiver. The former five-star recruit was the No. 1 recruit in the country and shocked the nation by committing to FCS Jackson State to play for Deion Sanders, and he followed Sanders to Colorado when he took the job in Boulder.
Travis Hunter continues to amaze me the more I watch his film 🎞️
1,044 snaps in 2023 on 9 games: Unreal🔥pic.twitter.com/uUfwJlTon9
— Kade Nix (@kadesdraftroom) July 3, 2024
Hunter is one of the most noteworthy players in college football for his two-way talent, and landing him would be a boon for the Steelers. Of course, if the Steelers are drafting at No. 14 overall, then this season likely didn’t go the way it should for Pittsburgh and while landing Hunter would be nice, the Steelers are likely expecting to be drafting later in the draft, likely in a spot where they might not be able to draft him.
The Steelers already have a budding star in CB Joey Porter Jr., and adding Hunter across from him would give the Steelers another potential lockdown corner. The team has struggled drafting corners until they hit on Porter, and Hunter could be another great pick by GM Omar Khan if it were to come to fruition for the Steelers.
